Yong
KOTA KINABALU (Nov 21): Malaysia’s states are the ones that accorded territorial rights to the country and not the other way around, said former Chief Minister Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee.
“The country’s international boundary consists of the boundaries of its states. What this means is that Sabah and all the other states are the ones who gave Malaysia its territorial rights, and this is stated in the Federal Constitution.
“I am saying this because I do not want the Federal Government to make any more mistakes regarding Sabah’s territories like they did when handling the Sulu claims, where they made a mistake but it is us who had to bear the brunt.
“In coordinating territorial security, it involves not only physical assets such as military, but also the basis of international law. From where does the country gain its right over the disputed South China Sea? It is from Sabah, not Malaysia.
“Sabah brought this territory to Malaysia. Before 1963, they did not have this territory. That’s why the State Government must coordinate with the Federal Government,” he said at the State Assembly question-and-answer session here today.
Yong stressed that proper coordination between the State Government and Federal Government is vital in addressing such security concerns, as he pointed out that Sabah should be more knowledgeable on such state matters than the federal side.
The nominated assemblyman anchored his point firstly on documents, reminding that before 1963, Jesselton was not related to Malaya in terms of administration, as important documents such as the state’s revenue were sent to directly to London.
He also wondered if the country’s claim over the South China Sea should take into account older documents, considering the New Malaysia Map 1979 was made before the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 and after Malaysia Day.
“The federal side does not have these documents, that’s why they don’t understand. Don’t leave it to them, they don’t know. I know. The people of Sabah know.
“They made mistakes, such as the Sulu claims, where they had to search Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg – the whole of Europe – only for the document to be found in Brunei,” he said.
Yong, who is also Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president and deputy chairman of both Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) and Perikatan Nasional (PN), highlighted that these are some of the issues that need coordination with the federal side.
“We all know that territorial security is not easy to manage. Hence, I am suggesting for a special committee to be set up to study all these issues, protected under the Standing Order,” he said.
He was posing an additional question to Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Abidin Madingkir, during the State Assembly sitting here today.
Abidin responded to Yong’s proposal, agreeing that a special committee should be set up so that state and federal officials can come together and sit down to coordinate or clear up any misunderstandings between both sides.
“However, the State Government’s stand concerning the Territorial Sea Act 2012 and Continental Shelf Act 1966 are non-negotiable, declared and allocated under the North Borneo (Alteration of Boundaries) Order in Council 1954.
“As for these Sulu claimants allegedly finding evidence in Brunei to back their claims on the basis of the issue’s history actually starting in 1877 and not 1878, I am not going to respond to that because it’s not related to the question at issue,” said Abidin.
