KUCHING, Oct 29 — The UK cannot disavow responsibility if the Malaysia Agreement 1963 it helped to draft has been violated, Sarawak minister Tan Sri Dr James Masing said today.
Masing explained that this was because the UK was party to the agreement that was signed when Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and — briefly — Singapore joined together to form Malaysia, and must be held accountable.
“The UK government has to tell us what are the conditions in the MA63 that could have been breached,” he told reporters.
“If indeed there are wrong somewhere, they must come back and fix the wrongs, if there is any,” the state land development minister told reporters today after signing a memorandum of understanding between Bakun Charitable Trust and Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) here.
The Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president said, however, that his remarks did not mean he was implying that Putrajaya has breached the agreement.
Masing was responding to Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan’s remarks blaming the UK for not doing enough to prevent the confusion that has cropped up following their withdrawal with the formation of Malaysia on September 16, 1963.
Speaking in Parliament last Tuesday, Pairin, who is also Parti Bersatu (PBS) president, said the British government had allowed the situation to deteriorate since then as there were many unresolved issues regarding interpretation of the MA63.
He said a reading of the Malaysia Act 1963, Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) Report and Cobbold Commission Report led him to conclude that the UK acted as though it was in a rush to relinquish its duties to the two Borneo states.
The former Sabah chief minister also urged the British High Commissioner to Malaysia to convey the grievances of Sabahans to the Queen of England.
