President’s Report 2017-2018
Sabah Sarawak Rights in Australia & New Zealand organisation was registered as an Australia NGO on 22 Aug 2017 with the objective to work for the welfare of Sabahans and Sarawakians in Australia and New Zealand and defend their basic human rights which are supposed to be safeguarded under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and Federal constitution.
The organisation while acknowledging the importance of reaching out to Sabahans and Sarawakians who live in Australia the SSRANZ is also tasked to raise public awareness of their rights and through the media and to organise forums on topics such as the social-political developments affecting the home situation from time to time.
One of the first activities SSRANZ organized was a forum on 17 Sept 2017 on issues about the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63). This was well attended by over 50 Sabahans and Sarawakians, noting that quite a number of them had come a long way from outside Melbourne for the event. One person even flew all the way from the top of Australia. We thank them for their support.
A bank cheque account was set up on 27 Sept 2017 so that any funds received could be paid into the account to run the NGO activities. Mosses Anap the Finance Officer has prepared a report on the financial situation. Emily Edward has prepared a report on her diplomat and public relations activities as the Goodwill Ambassador of SSRANZ.
During the year Emily Edward the Goodwill Ambassador person has done a wonderful job in connecting with a few thousand Sabahans and Sarawakians all over Australia and almost singlehandedly assisted many who needed basic help to adjust with living in Australia for the first time and helping to solve the issues they face.
On 2 June 2018, a Borneo Cultural night was organised by the Sabah Sarawak Borneo Native Organization which was well attended by over 100 people. Cultural dances were put on the show after a number of invited speakers gave speeches on Sabah and Sarawak. The Ngo also organised food and drinks and in general, everyone was happy with the evening’s events.
A number of articles were published in the SSRANZ facebook and SSRANZ Blog page. Owing to
commitments by members to other matters, publication lapsed a bit on the blog page but a number of articles were published in the Facebook.
A couple of articles by Robert Pei on MA63 legal issues reached between 5000 to 10,000 readers in short space-time. This is very encouraging considering that most people might find such topics a bit “dry”.
Moving into 2018, there were 2 main events which were constantly in the headlines, the General elections (GE14) on 11 May 2018 and the Petronas High Court Case in Kuala Lumpur in June.
The GE14 was a watershed in Malaysian history which saw 2 important political developments.
The first one was the end of the UMNO BN 60 years of dictatorial rule was ended and it was replaced by the new party Pakatan Harapan which promised hopeful changes.
However, hopes were soon dashed for Sabahans and Sarawakians who voted for the new government which promised to restore their MA63 rights which had been illegally taken away by the federal government over 55 years. The “PH” government immediately announced it would not be able to implement any of its promises to the Borneo people.
The second change was very important for Sarawak and Sabah because the change of federal government also ended 55 years of direct federal control of the 2 Borneo states. While the newly elected Sabah government decided to join the PH government and took a submissive role in fighting for Sabah rights, the Sarawak Government decided it would be free of direct federal control. For the first time, it began to act “independently” making its own decisions and pressed forward with the campaign to restore Sarawak rights which began over 3 years ago under Chief Minister Adenan Satem.
One of the Sarawak government’s agenda was to regain control of Sarawak oil and gas and which it did before the general elections by taking steps to declare that Sarawak was legally in control of the exploitation of these resources. This provoked Petronas the National Petroleum Company to seek a declaration in the Federal High Court that it was the sole owner of those assets. A hearing was set for 21 June 2018.
SSRANZ organised and held its first rally on 19 June 2018 to highlight the issue and support the Sarawak’s government to oppose Petronas’ illegal claim. The rally was held on outside the Victoria state library along Swanston St. Melbourne. Then on 20 June, another rally was held on the steps of the Victoria Parliament in Collins Street Melbourne. This attracted a bit of attention. A few speakers including Robert Pei and Emily Edwards talked about the issue affecting Sabah and Sarawak.
A general meeting was held on 31 August 2018 with the re-election of Robert Pei as President, Francis Chang as Vice President & New Zealand representative. Moses Anap was re-elected as the Treasurer/Finance Officer, Emily Edward re-elected as the Welfare Public relations officer and Cecilia Paul as activities Officer.
For its first year, SSRANZ had a reasonably successful year with various activities and in its publication work.
We look forward to a new year with greater success.
Sabah Sarawak Rights in Australia & New Zealand organisation was registered as an Australia NGO on 22 Aug 2017 with the objective to work for the welfare of Sabahans and Sarawakians in Australia and New Zealand and defend their basic human rights which are supposed to be safeguarded under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and Federal constitution.
The organisation while acknowledging the importance of reaching out to Sabahans and Sarawakians who live in Australia the SSRANZ is also tasked to raise public awareness of their rights and through the media and to organise forums on topics such as the social-political developments affecting the home situation from time to time.
One of the first activities SSRANZ organized was a forum on 17 Sept 2017 on issues about the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63). This was well attended by over 50 Sabahans and Sarawakians, noting that quite a number of them had come a long way from outside Melbourne for the event. One person even flew all the way from the top of Australia. We thank them for their support.
A bank cheque account was set up on 27 Sept 2017 so that any funds received could be paid into the account to run the NGO activities. Mosses Anap the Finance Officer has prepared a report on the financial situation. Emily Edward has prepared a report on her diplomat and public relations activities as the Goodwill Ambassador of SSRANZ.
During the year Emily Edward the Goodwill Ambassador person has done a wonderful job in connecting with a few thousand Sabahans and Sarawakians all over Australia and almost singlehandedly assisted many who needed basic help to adjust with living in Australia for the first time and helping to solve the issues they face.
On 2 June 2018, a Borneo Cultural night was organised by the Sabah Sarawak Borneo Native Organization which was well attended by over 100 people. Cultural dances were put on the show after a number of invited speakers gave speeches on Sabah and Sarawak. The Ngo also organised food and drinks and in general, everyone was happy with the evening’s events.
A number of articles were published in the SSRANZ facebook and SSRANZ Blog page. Owing to
commitments by members to other matters, publication lapsed a bit on the blog page but a number of articles were published in the Facebook.
A couple of articles by Robert Pei on MA63 legal issues reached between 5000 to 10,000 readers in short space-time. This is very encouraging considering that most people might find such topics a bit “dry”.
Moving into 2018, there were 2 main events which were constantly in the headlines, the General elections (GE14) on 11 May 2018 and the Petronas High Court Case in Kuala Lumpur in June.
The GE14 was a watershed in Malaysian history which saw 2 important political developments.
The first one was the end of the UMNO BN 60 years of dictatorial rule was ended and it was replaced by the new party Pakatan Harapan which promised hopeful changes.
However, hopes were soon dashed for Sabahans and Sarawakians who voted for the new government which promised to restore their MA63 rights which had been illegally taken away by the federal government over 55 years. The “PH” government immediately announced it would not be able to implement any of its promises to the Borneo people.
The second change was very important for Sarawak and Sabah because the change of federal government also ended 55 years of direct federal control of the 2 Borneo states. While the newly elected Sabah government decided to join the PH government and took a submissive role in fighting for Sabah rights, the Sarawak Government decided it would be free of direct federal control. For the first time, it began to act “independently” making its own decisions and pressed forward with the campaign to restore Sarawak rights which began over 3 years ago under Chief Minister Adenan Satem.
One of the Sarawak government’s agenda was to regain control of Sarawak oil and gas and which it did before the general elections by taking steps to declare that Sarawak was legally in control of the exploitation of these resources. This provoked Petronas the National Petroleum Company to seek a declaration in the Federal High Court that it was the sole owner of those assets. A hearing was set for 21 June 2018.
SSRANZ organised and held its first rally on 19 June 2018 to highlight the issue and support the Sarawak’s government to oppose Petronas’ illegal claim. The rally was held on outside the Victoria state library along Swanston St. Melbourne. Then on 20 June, another rally was held on the steps of the Victoria Parliament in Collins Street Melbourne. This attracted a bit of attention. A few speakers including Robert Pei and Emily Edwards talked about the issue affecting Sabah and Sarawak.
A general meeting was held on 31 August 2018 with the re-election of Robert Pei as President, Francis Chang as Vice President & New Zealand representative. Moses Anap was re-elected as the Treasurer/Finance Officer, Emily Edward re-elected as the Welfare Public relations officer and Cecilia Paul as activities Officer.
For its first year, SSRANZ had a reasonably successful year with various activities and in its publication work.
We look forward to a new year with greater success.
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