Threats on secessionist backfiring

Kota Kinabalu: “The threats issued by Ministers towards secessionist in Sabah and Sarawak is back firing, it is the government of the day which taking the brunt of the people’s displeasure” says Zainnal Ajamain a freelance researcher in Sabah who has been vocal about the breaches in the Malaysia Agreement 1963.

According to him is Sabah and Sarawak part of Malaysia or is Sabah and Sarawak is already outside of Malaysia. Perhaps Sabah and Sarawak is outside Malaysia therefore these Ministers wants to exert themselves upon the people of Sabah and Sarawak to say otherwise. Are they even qualified to say it in the first place?

Let’s take a good look at the Malaysia Constitution for which is supreme in Malaysia. In Article 1 it says:

(1) The Federation shall be known, in Malay and in English, by the name Malaysia.

(2) The States of the Federation shall be Johore, Kedah, Kelantan, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Penang, Perak, Perlis, Sabah, Sarawak, Selangor and Trengganu.

So far so good, but Sub-Clause (2) was amended by Act A354 Section 2 date of enforcement 17 August 1976. This amendment was made 82 days after the “Double Six” incident in Kota Kinabalu and 72 days after PETRONAS Agreement was signed by the State Government. Before this amendment the Malaysia Constitution on 16 September 1963 looks like this:

(2) The States of the Federation shall be—

(a) the States of Malaya, namely, Johore, Kedah, Kelantan, Malacca, Negri Sembilan, Pahang, Penang, Perak, Perlis, Selangor and Trengganu ; and

(b) the Borneo States, namely, Sabah and Sarawak ; and

(c) the State of Singapore.

Obviously these amendments were made without understanding the whole Malaysia Constitution. This is because in Article 160 the Interpretation, the Malaysia Constitution, it says:

“The Federation” means the Federation established under the Federation of Malaya Agreement 1957.

Well the problem here is that “the Federation” means it was established in 1957 which means Malaysia is not born yet, that only happens on the 16 September 1963. As the result, how is it possible to insert Sabah and Sarawak into the Federation of Malaya because the Malaysia Agreement 1963 in no uncertain terms says Federation of Malaysia NOT Federation of Malaya.

Is this a breach of the Malaysia Agreement 1963? Or may be an oversight on the part of Putrajaya for the last 51 years. Perhaps some people in Putrajaya have some problem interpreting the Constitution, apologies accepted because most of them are intellectually challenge. Then we need to go to the second issue – “Hari Merdeka”.

Also in Article 160 of the Malaysia Constitution “Merdeka Day” means the thirty-first day of August, nineteen hundred and fifty-seven. Oops it cannot be coincidence to have two oversights – this must be done purposely. Why then the leaders in Putrajaya made this mistake when obviously Tun Razak himself acknowledge that “Hari Merdeka” or “Hari Malaysia” is amended from 31 August to 16 September. This Tun Razak signs the amendments in Singapore on the 28 August 1963 (see attachment).

Perhaps Wan Junaidi should first table this paper in the Cabinet or the Attorney General Office to get clearance from them before attempting to meet the so called “Separatists”. It is obviously Putrajaya need to do a lot of research into the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and what really took place then. Otherwise not only the meeting will be utter failure, those representing the government may as well declare from the onset that they are intellectually challenged.

Zainnal Ajamain (zajamain56@gmail.com)

Zainnal Ajamain is an economist by profession, graduating with a Masters degree from the University of East Anglia. He has held several high ranking civil service positions in government and government think tanks and has worked as a university lecturer, senior researcher, stockbroker, and economist and published several papers in international media journals. He was the co-author behind the Sabah Government’s vision for development and progress the HALATUJU which later became the Sabah Development Corridor and created the first Offshore Islamic Fund in Labuan. He also held the position of Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems at the University Malaysia Sabah. He was the Co-Founder of the United Borneo Front (UBF) and a passionate activist to abolish the Cabotage Policy and the development of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippine East Asia Growth Area or in short BIMP-EAGA. He is also the Secretary General of a newly formed political party in Sabah.