KUCHING, Dec 2 — Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Openg has reiterated that the four matters accorded to state as its fundamental rights under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) and the Federal Constitution are non-negotiable.
The four non-negotiable matters are the state’s immigration rights; rights to taxation powers like the imposition of state sales tax, port dues, and other state laws; protection rights within the continental shelves and; state’s sovereignty over seabed and subsoils, he said.
Abang Johari said this in his address during the first meeting of the Special Council on MA63 via video conferencing that was chaired by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today.
“In the on-going negotiations between the federal and the state governments, I wish to emphasise on the Sarawak government’s unwavering stance on four non-negotiable matters,” he said.
Also present at the meeting were State Secretary Datuk Amar Jaul Samion, Assistant Minister of Law, State-Federal Relationship and Project Monitoring Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali, acting state attorney-general, Saferi Ali and legal officer Evy Liana Atang. — Borneo Post Online
