Revisiting the formation of Malaysia: The contestation over equal partnership of the Bornean states

This paper re-evaluates the contestation over the equal partnership of the Bornean states of Sabah and Sarawak in the historical process of the formation of Malaysia and their constitutional status in the Federation of Malaysia in relation to the Malaysia Agreement of 1963 (MA63). This contestation...

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Main Authors: A Rahman Tang Abdullah, Bilcher Bala
Format: Proceedings
Language:English
English
Published: Persatuan Sains Sosial Malaysia 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/32463/1/Revisiting%20the%20formation%20of%20Malaysia%2C%20The%20contestation%20over%20equal%20partnership%20of%20the%20Bornean%20states.ABSTRACT.pdf
https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/32463/2/REVISITING%20THE%20FORMATION%20OF%20MALAYSIA%2C%20THE%20CONTESTATION%20OVER%20EQUAL%20PARTNERSHIP%20OF%20THE%20BORNEAN.pdf
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author A Rahman Tang Abdullah
Bilcher Bala
author_facet A Rahman Tang Abdullah
Bilcher Bala
author_sort A Rahman Tang Abdullah
collection UMS
description This paper re-evaluates the contestation over the equal partnership of the Bornean states of Sabah and Sarawak in the historical process of the formation of Malaysia and their constitutional status in the Federation of Malaysia in relation to the Malaysia Agreement of 1963 (MA63). This contestation refers to the demand from Sabahan and Sarawakian parties for the restoration of equal status/partnership of the two states with the Federation of Malaya as purportedly enshrined in the MA63. They claim that this status of equality was written into Article 1(2) of the Malaysian Constitution of 1963 but it was amended in 1976 whereby Sabah and Sarawak were relegated to the position of the 12th and 13th states of Malaysia. However, this paper aims to redefine the polemics based on the premise that the position of the four member states as equal partners was not enshrined in the MA63 signed by the United Kingdom, the Federation of Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore in London on 9 July, 1963. Instead, all the member states would be merged into one sovereign state, and not a union of several equal sovereign states. Accordingly, the Malaysian Constitution of 1963 clearly stipulated the position of Sabah and Sarawak as two states with additional autonomous rights and constitutional safeguards in the Federation of Malaysia. In fact, such status quo is also stipulated in the Cobbold and IGC reports. This finding is conducted based on content analysis on the 1963 Federal Constitution, MA63 and other relevant historical documents.
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spelling ums.eprints-324632022-04-22T06:56:24Z https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/32463/ Revisiting the formation of Malaysia: The contestation over equal partnership of the Bornean states A Rahman Tang Abdullah Bilcher Bala DS595.8-597.215 History JC319-323 Political geography This paper re-evaluates the contestation over the equal partnership of the Bornean states of Sabah and Sarawak in the historical process of the formation of Malaysia and their constitutional status in the Federation of Malaysia in relation to the Malaysia Agreement of 1963 (MA63). This contestation refers to the demand from Sabahan and Sarawakian parties for the restoration of equal status/partnership of the two states with the Federation of Malaya as purportedly enshrined in the MA63. They claim that this status of equality was written into Article 1(2) of the Malaysian Constitution of 1963 but it was amended in 1976 whereby Sabah and Sarawak were relegated to the position of the 12th and 13th states of Malaysia. However, this paper aims to redefine the polemics based on the premise that the position of the four member states as equal partners was not enshrined in the MA63 signed by the United Kingdom, the Federation of Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore in London on 9 July, 1963. Instead, all the member states would be merged into one sovereign state, and not a union of several equal sovereign states. Accordingly, the Malaysian Constitution of 1963 clearly stipulated the position of Sabah and Sarawak as two states with additional autonomous rights and constitutional safeguards in the Federation of Malaysia. In fact, such status quo is also stipulated in the Cobbold and IGC reports. This finding is conducted based on content analysis on the 1963 Federal Constitution, MA63 and other relevant historical documents. Persatuan Sains Sosial Malaysia 2021 Proceedings PeerReviewed text en https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/32463/1/Revisiting%20the%20formation%20of%20Malaysia%2C%20The%20contestation%20over%20equal%20partnership%20of%20the%20Bornean%20states.ABSTRACT.pdf text en https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/32463/2/REVISITING%20THE%20FORMATION%20OF%20MALAYSIA%2C%20THE%20CONTESTATION%20OVER%20EQUAL%20PARTNERSHIP%20OF%20THE%20BORNEAN.pdf A Rahman Tang Abdullah and Bilcher Bala (2021) Revisiting the formation of Malaysia: The contestation over equal partnership of the Bornean states. https://msc12.pssm.org.my/eproceedings/ Password:@MSC12PSSM2021
spellingShingle DS595.8-597.215 History
JC319-323 Political geography
A Rahman Tang Abdullah
Bilcher Bala
Revisiting the formation of Malaysia: The contestation over equal partnership of the Bornean states
title Revisiting the formation of Malaysia: The contestation over equal partnership of the Bornean states
title_full Revisiting the formation of Malaysia: The contestation over equal partnership of the Bornean states
title_fullStr Revisiting the formation of Malaysia: The contestation over equal partnership of the Bornean states
title_full_unstemmed Revisiting the formation of Malaysia: The contestation over equal partnership of the Bornean states
title_short Revisiting the formation of Malaysia: The contestation over equal partnership of the Bornean states
title_sort revisiting the formation of malaysia the contestation over equal partnership of the bornean states
topic DS595.8-597.215 History
JC319-323 Political geography
url https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/32463/1/Revisiting%20the%20formation%20of%20Malaysia%2C%20The%20contestation%20over%20equal%20partnership%20of%20the%20Bornean%20states.ABSTRACT.pdf
https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/32463/2/REVISITING%20THE%20FORMATION%20OF%20MALAYSIA%2C%20THE%20CONTESTATION%20OVER%20EQUAL%20PARTNERSHIP%20OF%20THE%20BORNEAN.pdf
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