KUALA LUMPUR: The Dewan Rakyat is once again reminded of the 1963 Malaysia Agreement (MA63), which was previously announced to be fully implemented by July of this year.
Tuaran member of Parliament Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Madius Tangau said that the focus should now be on the preparation of implementation mechanisms rather than still being at the negotiation stage.
“For example, the implementation of revenue sharing in Article 112C and Section 2(1) of Part IV of the Tenth Schedule of the Federal Constitution is the granting of constitutional rights to Sabah to receive â…– or 40% of the federal revenue collection from Sabah.
“Although this matter has been raised multiple times, the constitutional rights of Sabah have been denied for so long.
“However, Tuaran MP still hopes that the assurance of the implementation of Sabah’s rights will be fulfilled before July 2024, as announced,” he said in his speech during the debate in the Parliament here on Wednesday.
Madius said that statements such as “we are the implementing generation; therefore, just implement MA63 without the need for further negotiations” continue to resonate, but the fact remains that there are still things that have not been implemented and awaited by the people of Sabah and Sarawak.
In this regard, he said, two things need to be avoided, namely, confusing the proviso of Article 112C with the proviso of Article 112D.
“To Tuaran MP, Article 112D only arises when Article 112C has been accepted and recognized as Sabah’s right and the government agrees to implement it.
“If the government does not recognise and implement Article 112C, then Article 112D does not arise.
“But when the proclamation was presented the other day regarding this matter, what was raised and discussed was 112D, which should not have arisen because it does not directly refer to Sabah’s constitutional rights, which is 112C.
“And secondly, that Sabah’s constitutional rights in Article 112C are unique to Sabah only,” explained the former Sabah Deputy Chief Minister.
He said that the proclamation of the Federal Government Gazette on April 20, 2022, namely the Federal Constitution Order (Review of Special Grants under Article 112D) (State of Sabah) 2022, has nothing to do with the steps to implement Sabah’s constitutional rights in this matter.
