This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on December 9, 2015.

KUCHING: Sarawak lawmakers unanimously agreed yesterday to give the mandate to the state government to “take all measures and actions” to safeguard the state’s rights and interests by getting Putrajaya to fully implement the Malaysia Agreement.

All 61 assemblymen who were present in the 71-seat legislature yesterday gave their support to the motion proposed by Land Development Minister Tan Sri Dr James Masing.

Article VII of the agreement ensures that the rights of the state be protected through all the recommendations in the Inter-governmental Committee (IGC) Report.

The mandate gives the state government powers to negotiate with Putrajaya on realigning federal policies on education, health and the official language “so that they are consistent with the constitutional safeguards and the terms of the IGC Report”. The lawmakers also gave the mandate to the state government under Tan Sri Adenan Satem to review all federal legislation, including the amendent or repealing of laws that affected the state’s rights to its natural resources.

These laws include the Territorial Sea Act 2012, which limits the state’s territorial waters to within three nautical miles of the coast, and the Continental Shelf Act and the Petroleum Act 1966, which could affect the state’s claim to revenue from petroleum resources.

The review can also include federal government decisions or policies if they are found to be “inconsistent with the aspirations of the people of the state as noted in the Cobbold Commission Report and the IGC Report”.

Masing said the mandate would also be used to initiate a review of the grants and other revenues assigned to the state. 

Assistant Housing Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Hamzah  said there was a lot of unhappiness among Sarawakians over unfulfilled guarantees in the Malaysia Agreement and an erosion of rights through various federal government policies. — The Malaysian Insider