A seven-point proposal for Sabah and Sarawak, to be adopted when Pakatan Rakyat forms the federal government in Putrajaya, has been proposed by parliamentary opposition leader and PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim.

The proposal will, Anwar told Sarawakians at a hotel in Kuching yesterday, restore their rights under the Malaysia Agreement, as well as recognise the two states as equal partners in the federation.

Sabah and Sarawak deserve more than what they were now receiving, he said at a function to mark Sarawak’s 51st independence anniversary, which was yesterday, July 22.

“They say that celebrating the Independence Day of Sarawak is a very brave step. Indeed it is. But I believe the people of Sarawak deserve more. In conjunction with this 51st  anniversary and in line with the true concept of federalism, we propose a 7-point plan for Sabah and Sarawak,” Anwar said.

Point 1 recognises the spirit of the 1963 Malaysia Agreement. It goes on to recognise in the Federal Constitution, in text books and in official discourses that Sabah and Sarawak are special states and equal partners with peninsular Malaysia within the Federation of Malaysia.

It also recognises three national days: Aug 31 as the Merdeka Day for Malaya and Sabah, July 22 for Sarawak and Sept 16 as Malaysia Day, with the national celebrations being held on Aug 31 and Sept 16.

Keeping the true spirit of federalism

Point two, Anwar said, values unity in diversity  in the spirit of true federalism, while preserving a cohesive nation where Bahasa Malaysia is upheld as the national language to unify all Malaysians regardless of faith, ethnicity or mother-tongue; to protect the freedom of expression and information in all languages, as enshrined in the Federal Constitution, including the use of Allah in the Malay and Iban language Bible and other publications; and to establish a television channel for North Borneo.

The third point would be full recognition of the injustice in the marginalisation and poverty suffered by Sabah and Sarawak despite their rich resources, as a result of corruption, nepotism and cronyism by both the federal and state governments, and to bring about economic reforms.

“Among the reforms will be federal-state sharing of petroleum wealth and power in Petronas, the establishment of state-owned second-tier oil and gas companies as partners of Petronas and 20 percent oil royalty for the two states,” Anwar said.

Under the fourth point, Pakatan proposes to correct and prevent the illegal naturalisation and enfranchisement of foreigners. It will also correct the failure to safeguard the border of Sabah and establish permanent, joint federal-state commissions in Sabah and Sarawak that will be answerable to both the Parliament and the respective state assemblies.

Protection of native communities, land

The fifth point is to ensure protection of the native communities and environment by establishing state land commissions in Sabah and Sarawak, with institutionalised representation from the native communities and answerable to the respective state assemblies; and to administer native customary rights (NCR) lands, undertake surveys, investigate and resolve land disputes.

The sixth point is to support human resource development in Sabah and Sarawak, with no discrimination on grounds of religion, through the Borneonisation of the public services in the two states with transparent and meritocratic recruitments and promotions.

Under the seventh point, Pakatan intends to establish a royal commission of inquiry to study how healthy federalism has become in Malaysia within one year of rule from Putrajaya by the Pakatan government; to complete it within three years and to reform and rejuvenate the  federal system before GE15 to better serve the nation and all the states and territories.

Anwar said: “A federation of states is only as strong as the sum of its parts. The call for real federalism and greater devolution of powers is intended to strengthen these parts and that in turn will strengthen the entire federation.

“This will augur well for the future of Malaysia. The concept of federalism entails a division of power between the federal government and the state governments, unlike a unitary state where power is centralised.

“In a true federation, the distribution of power allows all the component states to work as separate units, while the overall structure remains intact to allow the federal government to move the nation forward as a sovereign state recognised in the international community.”

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