Kota Kinabalu: The MA63 Dashboard, which is intended to monitor the implementation of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), should honestly reflect that progress on MA63 is now moving in “reverse gear”, said Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) Supreme Council member cum Youth Vice Chief Yong Yit Jee.
Yong said the reversal was caused by what he described as a fundamentally erroneous parliamentary reply by the de facto Law and Institutional Reform Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, who stated that MA63 contains no provisions relating to the ownership or regulation of oil and gas.
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“The Minister spoke as though Sabah, then known as North Borneo, and Sarawak did not exist as legal entities prior to 1963, and as though long-established ordinances governing land, mining and minerals were irrelevant or non-existent,” he said in a statement.
Yong, a lawyer by profession, said such a statement was not merely inaccurate but amounted to an insult to the intelligence of Sabahans and Sarawakians, as if they were ignorant of their own constitutional history and rights.
He stressed that the impact of the statement went far beyond semantics, particularly on the issue of oil and gas, where he said the Federal Government had effectively applied the brakes on any meaningful progress under MA63, with the matter now pushed into the courts following legal action by Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas).
“The constitutional consequence cannot be ignored. A ministerial reply delivered in Parliament is not a personal opinion; it represents the position of the Federal Government and, under the principle of collective ministerial responsibility, binds the Cabinet as a whole,” he said.
Yong added that it remained to be seen whether Federal ministers from Sabah and Sarawak would respond to or distance themselves from Azalina’s parliamentary reply.
He said the MA63 Dashboard could not credibly claim progress while constitutional positions were being narrowed, historical realities dismissed and fundamental issues affecting Sabah remained unresolved.
“Reverse gear is not progress,” Yong said.
Meanwhile, SAPP Information Chief Chin Vui Kai said Malaysia’s education syllabus must reflect the full role of the Borneo states as co-founders of the nation, including key constitutional documents and major historical events that shaped Malaysia,
He expressed support for proposals by Penampang MP Datuk Ewon Benedick and other Borneo leaders to include the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), the Cobbold Commission Report and the Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) Report in the syllabus to ensure students understand the constitutional foundations and rights of the Borneo states within the Federation.
“Our school textbooks need to revise the narrative so that Sabah and Sarawak are recognised as having co-founded Malaysia with Malaya and Singapore in 1963, rather than being described as having ‘joined’ it,” he said in a statement.
Chin said this move aligns with broader efforts to correct long-standing wording in textbooks that risks creating misunderstandings about the formation of Malaysia.
He added that, apart from constitutional documents, the syllabus should also expose students to the wider historical context and struggles of the Borneo states.
“For Sabah, this includes the Jesselton Revolt or Kinabalu Guerrillas from 1943 to 1944, the achievement of self-government on Aug 31, 1963 (Sabah Day) and the Double Six Tragedy of 1976,” he said.
“These documents and events are essential if the Borneo states are to be recognised as co-founders of Malaysia, as there was no Malaysia to ‘join’ before 16 September 1963,” Chin said.
He urged the Education Ministry to comprehensively update the syllabus to ensure students learn about the constitutional, historical and social contributions of the Borneo states.
