`


THERE IS NO GOD EXCEPT ALLAH
read:
MALAYSIA Tanah Tumpah Darahku

LOVE MALAYSIA!!!


 


Friday, July 24, 2015

Malaysia: Full Autonomy for Sarawak–A Political Mirage?

by Joe Fernandez
The Sarawak Government is in negotiations with the Federal Government for full autonomy through the devolution of powers.
 COMMENT
adenan-satemFull Autonomy for Sarawakians
Interestingly, the July 22 Sarawak Independence celebrations on Wednesday has been overtaken by the theme of Chief Minister Adenan Satem’s speech on the joyous occasion when he agreed with the Sarawak4Sarawakians sentiments of his people at large: Sarawak did not enter into the Federation in 1963 for Britain to simply hand over its colonial responsibilities in the territory to Malaya.
The proof of the pudding, they say, is in the eating. The die is cast i.e. there’s no turning back. Adenan’s critics would want to see him deliver on the contents of his bold July 22 speech this year. The question is whether full autonomy would come before the forthcoming state election, due by mid-2016, or after the polls.
In short, full autonomy for Sarawak, as an equal partner of Malaya and Sabah in the Federation. Equal partnership is the historical, legal and political reality where the South China Sea does not divide but brings together the two halves of the Federation i.e. one half in the peninsula and the other half in Borneo, remnants of the British Empire in the region.
keep-calm-and-love-sarawak-8Time for Autonomy to Sarawakians
The Sarawak Government wants the Federal Government to confine itself to national defence, foreign affairs and security while the rest would be taken care of by the state government. Adenan indicated that the way forward i.e. devolution of powers was now being negotiated with the Federal Government.
When that happens, Sabah would no doubt get full autonomy as well and on a silver platter. In fact, it was the activists in Sabah who first began the rights movement with the Sabah4Sabahans campaign in 1985 and, after a lull, revived the rights issue in 2008 when the ruling party lost for the first time its coveted two-thirds majority in Parliament.
When full autonomy comes, it would still be the Federation of Malaysia under the equal partnership concept, and not the Federation of North Borneo, Sarawak and Malaysia as many activists in Borneo have been urging. They feel that a Federation of three territories, as reflected in the name, would truly translate the concept of equal partnership.
July 22 this year is perhaps the most significant speech ever made by any head of government in the Federation since 1963 and marks a clear watershed. It was a speech which cut the Gordian Knot. The Gordian Knot is one that Alexander the Great cut through in Turkey, to pave the way, for conquering his way across Asia right up to that part of India by the banks of the Indus River.
It’s a speech where the past has caught up with us in the present to haunt the future.There’s unlikely to be a Referendum in Sarawak on Adenan’s full autonomy approach. In his words, full autonomy was the intention in 1963, meaning the founding fathers in Borneo. So, it’s not a Referendum issue.
Adenan, in pushing for full autonomy, has firmly ruled out Sarawak’s secession from the Federation and even perhaps defused the issue, although he conceded that the sentiments are out there, and there are calls for a Referendum towards that end, even as Inspector General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar warned that he would go after the “secessionists”, unnamed, in Sarawak.
Adenan, unlike Bingkor assemblyman Jeffrey Kitingan, isn’t questioning why Article 160 of the Federal Constitution defines Federation as that in the Federation of Malaya Agreement 1948. Jeffrey’s take is that Malaya was masquerading as Malaysia under Article 160, since it’s not the Malaysia mentioned in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
Adenan clearly doesn’t intend to revisit either Jeffrey’s contention that the Federal Government has been in non-compliance on MA63.
Non-compliance, critics say, is the “dead horse” that’s being flogged by Jeffrey who has made the issue his constituency even before the Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) Government came to power in Sabah in 1985 under his elder brother and Huguan Siou Joseph Pairin Kitingan. Jeffrey even spent nearly four years under detention without trial in the 1990s, under the draconian Internal Security Act (ISA), for allegedly plotting to pull out Sabah from the Federation.
Earlier, when it appeared that the Police were not in favour of July 22 being observed, the Sarawak Government was accused in the social media of caving in to the official line that “Sarawak achieved its independence through Malaysia”.
Immediately, the demand in the social media was for the Sarawak Government to state clearly, viz. in no uncertain terms, when Sarawak obtained its independence from Britain in 1963 i.e. July 22 or September 16.The question has now been answered.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.