Such being the case, no changes can
be made on the agreement without the consent of the other. In the case, they
seemed to be effort by the Federal Government to put aside this agreement or
even ignore this agreement as it gets their way of integrating Sabah and
sarawak according to West malaysia UMNO point of views and political agenda.
Sabah and sarawak must NEVER give up
on this agreement as it provides us with more autonomy. The founding fathers
has the foresight to see the greed of West Malaysian and sadly for Sabah since
UMNO has come in and rule Sabah it has lost most of its autonomy. Sarawak
should continue to fight to uphold the 18 points agreement.
Monitor and review
the implementation of the agreement
The government of Sarawak may like to
consider setting a monitoring and reviewing committee to consolidate the
implementation status and audit the programme that has been set to comply with
the agreement. That will help Sarawak Malaysian to understand how much has been
done in respect to the 18 point agreement.
Probably it would be good initiative
to trace this document back in the UK to find more detail on the intent,
spirit, process and even minutes of discussion leading to the signing of these
agreement.
A memorandum for
House of Lord in UK
Where is the Cobbold commission
report now – probably in UK too. Malaya would never want to show it because the
result is 33% want Malaysia, 33% do not want Malaysia and 33% undecided. How
they concluded that Sabah and Sarawak should join Malaysia based on the
statistics only “Allah” know. The British has some explaining to do to both
Sarawak and sabah. Maybe a memorandum should be sent to the House of Lord to
ask for explanation on the matter.
What is the
agreement all about?
The 20-point
agreement, or the 20-point memorandum, is an agreement made between the state
of Sabah (then North Borneo) with what would be the federal government of
Malaysia prior to the formation of Malaysia in September 16, 1963. A similar
agreement was made between the state of Sarawak and the federal government but
with certain differences in their 18-point agreement
The agreement
Point 1: Religion
While there was no objection to Islam
being the national religion of Malaysia there should be no
State religion in Borneo (Sarawak & Sabah), and the
provisions relating to Islam in the present Constitution of Malaya should not apply to Borneo
Point 2: Language
* a. Malay should be the national
language of the Federation
* b. English should continue to be
used for a period of 10 years after Malaysia Day
* c. English should be an official language of Borneo (Sarawak & Sabah)
for all purposes, State or Federal, without limitation of time.
Point 3:
Constitution
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. A new Constitution for Borneo (Sarawak & Sabah) was of course
essential.
Point 4: Head of
Federation
The Head of State in Borneo (Sarawak
& Sabah) should not be eligible for election as Head of the Federation
Point 5: Name of
Federation
“Malaysia” but not “Melayu
Raya”
Point 6:
Immigration
Control over immigration into any
part of Malaysia from outside should rest with the Central Government but entry into Borneo (Sarawak & Sabah) should also require the approval
of the State Government. The Federal Government should not be able to veto
the entry of persons into Borneo (Sarawak & Sabah) for State Government
purposes except on strictly security grounds. Borneo (Sarawak & Sabah)
should have unfettered control over the movements of persons other than those
in Federal Government employ from other parts of Malaysia Borneo (Sarawak &
Sabah).
Point 7: Right of
Secession
There should be no right to secede
from the Federation
Point 8: Borneanisation
Borneanisation of
the public service should proceed as quickly as possible.
Point 9: British Officers
Every effort should be made to
encourage British Officers to remain in the public service until their places
can be taken by suitably qualified people from Borneo (Sarawak & Sabah)
Point 10:
Citizenship
The recommendation in paragraph
148(k) of the Report of the Cobbold Commission should govern the citizenship rights in the Federation of Borneo (Sarawak & Sabah) subject to the
following amendments:
* a) sub-paragraph (i) should not
contain the proviso as to five years residence
* b) in order to tie up with our law,
sub-paragraph (ii)(a) should read “7 out of 10 years” instead of “8 out of 10
years”
* c) sub-paragraph (iii) should not
contain any restriction tied to the citizenship of parents – a person born in Borneo (Sarawak & Sabah) after Malaysia must be federal
citizen.
Point 11: Tariffs
and Finance
Borneo (Sarawak & Sabah) should
retain control of its own finance,
development and tariff, and should have the right to work up its own taxation
and to raise loans on its own credit.
Point 12: Special
position of indigenous races
In principle, the indigenous races of
Borneo (Sarawak & Sabah) should enjoy special rights analogous
to those enjoyed by Malays in Malaya, but the present Malays’ formula in
this regard is not necessarily applicable in Borneo(Sarawak & Sabah)
Point 13: State
Government
* a) the Prime Minister should be
elected by unofficial members of Legislative Council
* b) There should be a proper
Ministerial system in Borneo (Sarawak & Sabah)
Point 14:
Transitional period
This should be seven years and during
such period legislative power must be left with the State of Borneo (Sarawak
& Sabah) by the Constitution and not be merely delegated to the State
Government by the Federal Government
Point 15: Education
The existing educational system of Borneo (Sarawak & Sabah) should be maintained
and for this reason it should be under state control
Point 16:
Constitutional safeguards
No amendment
modification or withdrawal of any special safeguard granted to Borneo (Sarawak
& Sabah) should be made by the Central Government without the positive
concurrence of the Government of the State of North Borneo
The power of amending the
Constitution of the State of Borneo (Sarawak & Sabah) should belong exclusively to the people in the state. (Note: The United
Party, The Democratic Party and the Pasok Momogun Party considered that a
three-fourth majority would be required in order to effect any amendment to the
Federal and State Constitutions whereas the UNKO and USNO considered a
two-thirds majority would be sufficient)
Point 17:
Representation in Federal Parliament
This should take account not only of
the population of Borneo (Sarawak & Sabah) but also of its seize and potentialities and in any case should not be less
than that of Singapore
Point 18: Name of
Head of State
Yang di-Pertua Negara
Point 19: Name of State
Sarawak or Sabah
Point 20: Land,
Forests, Local Government, etc.
The provisions in the Constitution of
the Federation in respect of the powers of the National Land Council should not
apply in Borneo (Sarawak & Sabah). Likewise, the National Council for Local Government should not apply in Borneo
(Sarawak & Sabah).
*Merger
In 1961, when the Malayan government
began discussing a possible merger with neighbouring Singapore, Sabah, Sarawak
and Brunei, problems of ethnic power relations arose again. The “Malaysia”
proposal sans Sabah and Sarawak went back more than a decade; earlier
negotiations had proved fruitless. The Singaporeans themselves were not anxious
to be ruled by what they considered a Malay government. By 1961, however,
Singapore had grown receptive to the idea of joining Malaysia, largely because
of the prevailing idea at the time that industrial Singapore could not survive
without access to Malayan markets.
Singapore Chinese
population is a threat to Malaya
The Malayan government was not keen
on having the Chinese Singaporean population push the Malays into a minority
position in the new Malaysia. Many Malays felt that upsetting the
Malay-dominated nature of the armed forces and police might place them in a
dangerous situation. It was also argued that the inferior economic position of
the Malays would be emphasised by the entry of even more rich Chinese, setting
the stage for major discontent.
Malaya get Sabah
and Sarawak to form Malaysia to make use of their native population numbers
The Malayans decided to resolve this
by merging with Sabah and Sarawak; both British colonies had large native
populations whom the government considered “Malay”. Under Article 160 of the
Constitution, most of them were not Malay; the natives were mainly animists or
Christians instead of Muslims as required. To resolve this issue, the
government expanded its informal definition of “Malay” to include these people.