Sabah, Sarawak risk losing rights if emergency imposed, says activist

KOTA KINABALU – Sabah and Sarawak risk losing their rights if a nationwide state of emergency is declared, warned a Malaysia Agreement 1963 activist.

Zainnal Ajamain said when an emergency was imposed due to the racial riots in 1969, the two states lost their oil and gas rights.

“Remember, the racial riots in 1969 happened in Peninsular Malaysia. None of it happened in Sabah and Sarawak. 

“But the emergency was declared on the whole country. And when you look at the Malaysia Agreement, only then you realise, the federal government had taken over our oil, gas and continental shelf,” he said, referring to how Sabah and Sarawak’s maritime territory was reduced from 350 nautical miles, or up to the continental shelf, to just three nautical miles.

According to the North Borneo (Alteration of Boundaries) Order in Council 1954, Sabah and Sarawak’s territorial waters stretch up to the continental shelf, he said.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, meanwhile, states that the continental shelf is 350 nautical miles from the coast to the sea. 

Zainnal said Sabah and Sarawak have vast tracts of land and are rich in natural resources, and so, an emergency declaration could see these being taken away, whether deliberately or inadvertently. – The Vibes, October 24, 2020