KOTA KINABALU – Politicising the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) to win votes is wrong, said Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin, adding that the risk of pushing for the deal could run the country into bankruptcy.
“Many parties are adopting MA63 to win support from voters. There are many things in the agreement that need to be implemented.
“But we need a new agreement and negotiate new terms. For so many years, the MA63 remained unresolved. After all these years until today, the 40% revenue entitlement has not been approved.
“If it was, the federal government would be bankrupt, the state would also become bankrupt. But Sabahans continue to demand for MA63, but nothing is resolved.
“There are even politicians who went to jail for this, and nothing had materialised from the agreement,” he said in his speech at the Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) convention here today.
Under the agreement, Sabah is entitled to two-fifths of the revenue collected by Putrajaya from the state.
There is also a clause under Article 112C of the federal constitution that is meant to be read together with Part III, IV and Part IV of the Tenth Schedule.
Even though Bung Moktar did not put a name to the political leader who went behind bars, it is clear that the Umno state chief was referring to Sabah Star president Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan and PBS president Datuk Seri Maximus Ongkili.
The two were detained under the Internal Security Act in 1991 over an alleged secession plot back in the 1990s.
Jeffrey later denied that it was a secession plot, but he was merely detained for trying to educate Sabahans on state rights namely, the 20-point agreement and the MA63.
Bung Moktar said he does not want history to repeat itself and pointed out the call to raise oil royalty for Sabah to 20% cannot be done as the oil agreement involves international parties.
Meanwhile, the state deputy minister observed that Sabah BN has found it tough to bring about development as it needs to consider its partners in Gabungan Rakyat Sabah.
Therefore, he said the only way to overcome this is to win the elections and take power to allow BN to develop the state without interference. – The Vibes, July 2, 2022
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