Malaysians ‘owe’ Sabah the truth
The Malaysia Agreement 1963 signed between Federated Malaya, North Borneo (now Sabah), Sarawak and Singapore, was not a deed of subservience but rather an invitation to share equally a political table.
Aneesa Alphonsus (FMT)
Come July 9, it would be 49 years since Britain, the Federation of Malaya, North Borneo (now known as Sabah), Sarawak and Singapore entered into an agreement that gave rise to the formation of the Federation of Malaysia in 1963. But how many of us knew that?
The fact is we remember, easily enough, Aug 31, 1957 as Merdeka day and of late Sept 16, 1963 as Malaysia Day but what about July 9, 1963 – the day the Malaysia Agreement was signed by a then independent Sabah and Sarawak?
The agreement was not a deed of subservience but rather an invitation to share a political table and march ahead into a bright future.
But that did not happen. History has distorted the facts and killed off its proverbial leaders. A generation of children have been born into thinking that Malaysia is one and not 1+2 (Singapore withdrew from the Federation of Malaysia in 1965 leaving only Sabah and Sarawak).
FMT took to the streets in downtown Kuala Lumpur recently to ask if Malaysians have heard of the 1963 Malaysia Agreement that lured the Borneo states into the federal loop.
Of the 50 people we spoke to only three had heard of it but they couldn’t elaborate on what they knew of the agreement.
The shoulder-shrugging, furrowed foreheads and sheepish smiles were testimony to the fact that this might just be something not important enough to remember, to teach or to acknowledge.
As shallow as this sounds, perhaps what makes it harder to remember this day is that it’s not a public holiday. One has to tell it like it is sometimes. We call a spade a spade.
The Malaysia Agreement 1963 – in a more contemporary nutshell – would be living in an apartment building, or a guarded/gated housing area.
Being in this collective protective enclave doesn’t in any way mean that a person has to give up their individuality or privacy.
Sabah, Sarawak not ‘states’
It just means that no matter how different these homes and apartments are, they will all be given the same kind of protection by the company mandated to do just that.
That is no different with Sabah and Sarawak’s agreement with then Malaya and Singapore.
North Borneo (now Sabah) and Sarawak agreed to enter into the Malaysia Agreement 1963 with the Federation of Malaya based on the terms of a 20-point and 18-point agreement respectively.
For the record, the formation of the Federation of Malaysia was not conceived with the idea that Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak would be “included” and recognised as the 12th, 13th and 14th states of the new federation, thus adding to the 11 states in the federation of Malaya.
What was agreed upon was that the Federation of Malaya, Singapore, North Borneo (Sabah) and Sarawak would come together to form the federation of Malaysia as equal nation-state partners within that new federation.
This was agreed upon on the grounds that there would not be any loss or decrease in their respective status as independent sovereign nations.
Look closely at Clause 18 of the 20-point agreement in relation to Sabah and you will find that it hypothesises that the head of the state of Sabah was to be called “Yang di-Pertua Negara” and not “Negeri”.
Clause 3 of the 20-point agreement, which relates to Sabah, states: “Whilst accepting that the present Constitution of the Federation of Malaya should form the basis of the Constitution of Malaysia, the Constitution of Malaysia should be a completely new document drafted and agreed in the light of a free association of states and should not be a series of amendments to a Constitution drafted and agreed by different states in totally different circumstances.”
The real kingmakers
An avid Kuala Lumpur-born Sabah observer who gives his name as Sharif, opined that Peninsular Malaysians and Putrajaya “owe” Sabahans and Sarawakians the truth.
“I think Peninsula Malaysians and the government owe it to the people of Sabah and Sarawak to get to the truth of what was agreed in 1963.
“It is imperative that we demand that all that was agreed on be carried out no matter if a new or old government takes over post-general election,” Sharif said.
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