Lau says one of the inaccuracies was the claim that a referendum had been held in Sarawak and Sabah on joining Malaysia.
SIBU (July 31): Several inaccuracies were identified in a recent discussion on the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) featured in Episode 207 of the ‘Keluar Sekejap’ podcast, according to Senator Robert Lau.
Lau said the episode, which examined federalism in Malaysia, the historical background of MA63 and rights over natural resources, particularly petroleum off the coasts of Sarawak and Sabah, contained several factual and constitutional errors.
The segment featured Multimedia University law lecturer Muhammad Hafiz Hassan as the invited speaker.
Lau said one of the inaccuracies was the claim that a referendum had been held in Sarawak and Sabah on joining Malaysia.
“No referendum was ever conducted in Sarawak and Sabah, then known as North Borneo, on the question of joining Malaysia.
“At least, none has ever been held yet. Singapore, on the other hand, did conduct a referendum on the issue,” he said in a statement.
He explained that while United Nations decolonisation conventions envisaged a plebiscite to determine whether the people of a colonised territory accepted the proposed path to independence, no such exercise was held in either Sarawak or Sabah.
Lau also disputed the assertion that the nine Malay states, together with Penang and Melaka, were parties to MA63.
“The individual states within the Federation of Malaya were not parties to the Agreement.
“Rather, it was the independent Federation of Malaya that was one of the five signatories to the Malaysia Agreement 1963,” he said.
He cited the 1963 Kelantan constitutional challenge against MA63, noting that the court ruled the Federation had the prerogative to enter into treaties and that individual states had no constitutional role in the process.
Lau further rejected the claim that Sarawak, Sabah and Singapore merely became states alongside the existing states of Malaya.
“Sarawak and Sabah were partners in the formation of Malaysia.
“They entered the Federation as equal partners in the creation of a new nation. This distinction is fundamental to understanding the constitutional history of Malaysia,” he said.
He also disagreed with the suggestion that the Malay states had granted concessions to persuade Sarawak and Sabah to join Malaysia.
Instead, Lau said Sarawak and Sabah received special constitutional safeguards, largely recommended by the Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) Report and subsequently incorporated into the Federal Constitution through extensive amendments.
He said some of these amendments were introduced through the Supplement to the Ninth Schedule of the Federal Constitution, which conferred legislative powers over matters including native law and custom, cadastral land surveys, and in Sabah’s case, the Sabah Railway.
Lau expressed concern over what he described as a lack of understanding of Malaysia’s constitutional history.
“The lack of understanding and appreciation of our nation’s constitutional history is both sad and worrying.
“If we do not know our history — or worse, if our history is misunderstood or distorted — it does not bode well for our future,” he said.
He added that many law students in local universities were not adequately taught the constitutional history and legal issues surrounding MA63.
“It is therefore regrettable when prominent public figures disseminate inaccurate information.
“Misconceptions and incorrect narratives about the formation of Malaysia and the Malaysia Agreement 1963 continue to be repeated and broadcast to the public.
“It is important that discussions on these matters are grounded in historical facts and constitutional accuracy,” he said.
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