Malaysia Agreement 1963.
Agreement concluded between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Federation of Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore.
Article I
The Colonies of North Borneo and Sarawak and the State of Singapore shall be federated with the existing States of the Federation of Malaya as the States of Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore in accordance with the constitutional instruments annexed to this Agreement and the Federation shall thereafter be called "Malaysia".
Malaysia Agreement 1963 is an international agreement concluded between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Federation of Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore. It was registered in the United Nations on 21 September 1970 bearing a registration number of 10760.
As we can understand from the Article I of the Malaysia Agreement 1963, before the signing of the such agreement, the status of Sarawak and Sabah was a crown colony of the British empire. As a British Colonies, North Borneo and Sarawak sovereignty was attached with the British empire.
The Colonies of North Borneo and Sarawak was then ceased to be the crown colonies of the British once it was federated with the Federation of Malaya and then became the States of Sabah and Sarawak respectively. No more being called The Colonies.
It must be reminded here that the Malaysia Agreement 1963 was signed and agreed on 9th July 1963 and at that time, the Borneo States is still The Colonies and shall it federated with the Federation of Malaya, only then we ceased to become the British Colonies.
The States of Sabah and Sarawak ceased to became the colonies of the British anymore because then, our sovereignty was transferred to the Federation of Malaysia through the formation of Malaysia on 16th September 1963. The transferred of sovereignty of the Borneo States from the British government to the Federation of Malaysia was completed through the passing of the Malaysia Act 1963 Chapter 35 in the Westminster. Here, we can referred to the paragraph 1 of the such Act (Referred to the Bold and Italic sentences):-
Malaysia Act 1963 Chapter 35
1.-(1) For the purpose of enabling North Borneo, Sarawak Malaysia. and Singapore (in this Act referred to as " the new States ") to federate with the existing States of the Federation of Malaya (in this Act referred to as " the Federation "), the Federation thereafter being called Malaysia, on the day on which the new States are federated as aforesaid (in this Act referred to as " the appointed day ") Her Majesty's sovereignty and jurisdiction in respect of the new States shall be relinquished so as to vest in the manner agreed between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Federation and the new States.
The British government give the self-government status for Sarawak on 22nd July 1963 and 31st August 1963 for Sabah. Then, transferred the sovereignty of Sabah and Sarawak to the Federation of Malaysia on 16th September 1963.
The Federation of Malaysia was supposed to be commemorated on 31st August 1963. However, In response to the request made by the Governments of the Federation of Malaya, the Republic of Indonesia, and the Republic of the Philippines, on 5 August 1963, The United Nations agreed to ascertain, prior to the establishment of the Federation of Malaysia, the wishes of the people of Sabah (North Borneo) and Sarawak.
Due to this circumstance, the Malaysia Agreement 1963 was amended for the first and the only time in history on 28th August 1963 in Singapore by all signatories where the date "16th September" shall be substituted for the date "31st August".
Now, let's us evaluate everything again from the beginning with the United Nations Resolution 1541, Principle IX in mind as the formation of the Federation of Malaysia was in compliance with the Principle VI of the UN Resolution 1541 which is through Integration. Principle IX:-
Integration should have come about in the following circumstances :
(a) The integrating territory should have attained an advanced stage of self-government with free political institutions, so that its peoples would have the capacity to make a responsible choice through informed and democratic processes;
(6) The integration should be the result of the freely expressed wishes of the territory's peoples acting with full knowledge of the change in their status, their wishes having been expressed through informed and democratic processes, impartially conducted and based on universal adult suffrage. The United Nations could, when it deems it necessary, supervise these processes.
Due to the intervention of United Nations to ensure the wishes of the people in the Borneo States was observed and the process of the formation of Malaysia was in compliance with the international standard, it was concluded by U Thant, the Secretary General of United Nations that based on the clause of self-government for Sarawak on 22nd July 1963 and for Sabah on 31st August 1963. In addition, the constitutional advancement of the Borneo States leading to their election process in 1963, it was sufficient to abide with the clause based on universal adult suffrage. So, both requirement for the Integration process is there!
Now, do you understand that the formation of the Federation of Malaysia was indeed in compliance with the Principle IX of the UN Resolution 1541!!!
Meanwhile Principle VIII of the UN Resolution 1541 state that the formation of the Federation of Malaysia is on complete EQUALITY. Eventhough the Integration process was made between the already independence country (Malaya) with the Non-Self-Governing Countries (Sabah and Sarawak), We are EQUAL PARTNER. Principle VIII:-
Integration with an independent State should be on the basis of complete equality between the peoples of the erstwhile Non-Self-Governing Territory and those of the independent country with which it is integrated. The peoples of both territories should have equal status and rights of citizenship and equal guarantees of fundamental rights and freedoms without any distinction or discrimination; both should have equal rights and opportunities for representation and effective participation at all levels in the executive, legislative and judicial organs of government.
The purpose of the creation of "Malaysia" through UN Resolution 1541 is for decolonization process of Sabah and Sarawak. This is the purpose of UN Resolution 1541 which is for decolonization process. UN Resolution 1541 is a FLEXIBLE process. This FLEXIBILITY of UN Resolution 1541 is the reason it was created in the first place in addition with UN Resolution 1514. You can see through my previous post on how Barbados, Cocos (Keling) Islands, Republic of Nauru and so on has achieve their self-determination process through UN Resolution 1541. There are various ways how these Trust Territories achieve their self-determination. It is up to the people concerned.
So, for Sabah and Sarawak to achieve self-determination, IT IS UP TO US.
Whatever happen in-between the various process of the formation of the Federation of Malaysia is a history lesson. It is just a process either negative or positive that happen in-between the formation of Malaysia. It is the concluded agreement that is matter. The process can be interpreted by many people through various lens of their own. Scream as you want, history process and stories is a stories for lessons only.
It is the AGREEMENT that matters.
*New information will be continue to be added in this article at a regular basis as per requirement.
Author: Zulfaqar bin Sa'adi. Information Chief of State Reform Party (STAR).
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