KUCHING, Sept 17 — Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) pledge to return equal status to Sarawak and Sabah last night was just mere talk, Sarawak-based State Reform Party (STAR) said today.
Its president Lina Soo said reverting the Federal Constitution to restore the status of Sarawak as equal partner would only need for the proposal to be tabled in Parliament.
“Making Sarawak and Sabah equal partners [to Malaya] does not need time, money and more committees to study. Everything is already there in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) and Federal Constitution for 55 years,” its president Lina Soo said.
The move could have been done during the first session by the PH government, said Soo, who is also Sarawak Association for People’s Aspirations rights group president.
“As one of the three partners means we want one-third of 222 parliamentary seats and one-third of the federal Cabinet members,” she said, adding that it also means one-third of the national revenue.
Despite all this, she said the federal government is trying to take more of Sarawak’s oil revenue by changing its offer to 20 per cent based on profits, which is even less than the 5 per cent royalty based production it is presently receiving.
Soo said there is no point to conduct a study on the MA63, an international treaty which was written and signed 55 years ago, as suggested by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad before the equal status to Sarawak and Sabah could be returned.
“If there is need to study MA63 further, then it can only be done with all five signatory nations sitting down at one table again,” she said, referring to Malaya, Sarawak, Sabah, Singapore and the United Kingdom.
