At an end of Chinese New Year dinner and gathering of 300 political activists in Kuching, Sarawak lawyer Dominique Ng reminded the audience that the Sarawak independence movement was launched in 2013. He stressed that 22 July 1963 was officially recognized as Sarawak Independence Day in 2016 by the Sarawak state government.
A senior lawyer Voon Lee Shan talked about the advantages of national independence and ended the evening's talks with a strong call for Sarawak independence.
The evening highlighted talks on the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA83). It began with Ms Lina Soo President of STAR Reform raising issues on the loss of Sarawak's MA63 rights including Federal control over Sarawak oil and gas resources, issues with Petronas and Sarawak's attempt to regain control with OMO the still current 1958 Mining law.
She outlined the constitutional changes which have illegally altered the terms of MA63 such as the Petroleum Development Act 1974, ACT 354 and the Territorial Seas Act 2012 and diminished Sarawak MA63 rights and powers.
Patrick Anek a senior Sarawak lawyer talked about his experience as a BN member of parliament. He revealed that in 1961 Malaya had to borrow $200 million from Brunei (editor's comment: to administer Malaya which was facing bankruptcy).
A SHELL officer had disclosed to the Tunku that Sarawak held far greater petroleum resources which were not yet explored. (Editor: This fired the Malayan prime minister's long-held desire to take over Sarawak to use its resources to develop Malaya).
Mr Anek also talked about how the Federal Government declared a state of emergency in Sarawak to remove CM Ningkan who was fighting for Borneonization resisting the Malayan takeover which was confirmed in the illegal enactment to the PDA74.
Dominque Ng, also Sarawak lawyer and former State Assembly (DUN) member gave a brief history of how the Sarawak independence movement was launched in 2013 and his legal team's plan to sue the Federal Gov't for multiple violations of MA63.
He said MA63 was void ab initio (invalid from the beginning) for a number of reasons including the fact that Sarawak & Sabah were colonies and not independent states with power or capacity to make treaties like MA63.
Another local senior lawyer and former DUN member, Voon Lee Shan spoke out strongly for Sarawak independence.
He talked about the advantages of independence which he had summed up in a booklet.
He pointed out that if Sarawak controlled its petroleum resources, all Sarawakians would be very rich. This received a round of applause and he ended his talk with a loud call for Sarawak independence.
(Editor's comment: From a historical perspective, the Sarawak independence movement began in 1946 when the anti-cession movement began in opposition to the UK annexation of our country after 100 years of independence. This movement continued into the 1960s as the struggle against Malaysia for Sarawak independence).
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