The PH Manifesto speaks of 5 Pillars that will guide their agenda.
These 5 Pillars are detailed in 60 promises, intended to be given effect to over a span of 5 years.
The Fourth Pillar : Return Sabah and Sarawak to the status accorded in Malaysia Agreement 1963
At page 66, in relation to this Fourth Pillar, this is what PH have promised :
“Pakatan Harapan Government will adhere to the true spirit of the 1963 Malaysian Agreement based on mutually agreed special clauses.
The Pakatan Harapan Government is committed to restoring Sabah and Sarawak position to their rightful place, in line with the 1963 Malaysia Agreement”.
Promise No. 40 – 48 all relate to this Fourth Pillar, from pages 88 to 101.
Promise No. 40 : Implement the 1963 Malaysia Agreement
I reproduce Promise No. 40 in full below for your convenience.
In their greed, BN has undermined the rights of Sabahans and Sarawakians guaranteed under the 1963 Malaysia Agreement. These rights have been set aside for decades. In view of this, Pakatan Harapan Government will set up a Cabinet Committee Review and Monitor the Fair Implementation of the 1963 Malaysia Agreement within the first 100 days of our administration.
The Commission will consist of representatives from Peninsular, Sabah and Sarawak, who have expertise in relevant matters. The Commission will be directed to provide detailed reports to the government within six months from the date of establishment, for immediate execution.
The Commission’s main task is to review and propose measures to rectify the following:
Ø Status of Malaysia Agreement 1963 based on current legislation
Ø Efforts to enhance the understanding of the people on the 1963 Malaysia Agreement through the national education system
Ø Implementation of the concept federalism for the three territories within Malaysia
Ø The rights of Sabah and Sarawak to revenue from their natural resources such as oil and gas
Ø The administrative rights
Ø The share of funds that rightfully belongs to Sabah and Sarawak
Once the committee has presented its report, they will be tasked with monitoring the proper implementation of their proposals.
Pakatan Harapan says it is committed to restoring Sabah and Sarawak to their rightful place, in accordance with the 1963 Malaysia Agreement.
The question, in my view, that needs be asked, is what, precisely is that rightful place?
On 22nd March, 2012, I published a post entitled “Doing right by the people of Sabah & Sarawak”.
I would like to now quote in extenso from that post.
“Almost 49 years ago, 0n 9th July, 1963, the United Kingdom, the Federation of Malaya, North Borneo ( now called Sabah ), Sarawak and Singapore entered into an agreement that gave rise to the formation of the Federation of Malaysia.
…I have since come to understand that the formation of the federation of Malaysia never intended or envisaged that Singapore and the independent nation states of North Borneo ( now Sabah ) and Sarawak were to be subsumed and stand as the 12th, 13th and 14th states of the new federation, thus adding to the 11 states in the federation of Malaya.
Rather, the then federation of Malaya, Singapore, North Borneo and Sarawak had agreed to come together and, without any loss or reduction in their respective status as independent sovereign nations, form the federation of Malaysia as equal nation-state partners within that new federation.
…What has instead happened, in my view, is the surreptitious subsuming of Sabah and Sarawak into the Federation of Malaya as the 12th and 13th states.
…Am I right in my understanding of what was intended in the formation of Malaysia in 1963?”
Two reports in the Borneo Post gave me some direction on where I should look for answers to my poser.
On 18th November, 2016, it was reported that Baru Bian, PKR Sarawak chairman and the new Federal Works Minister, was going to table a motion in the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly to restore Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution to assert the rightful status of Sarawak within Malaysia.
I quote from this report.
“According to him, the MA63, an international treaty deposited with the United Nations, in Annex A set out Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution as: The States of the Federation shall be – (a) the States of Malaya, namely Johore, Kedah, Kelantan, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Penang, Perak, Perlis, Selangor and Terengganu; (b) the Borneo States, namely, Sabah and Sarawak; and (c) the State of Singapore.
However, in 1976, several Articles of the Federal Constitution were amended in Parliament, including Article 1(2) to its current form, without prior consultation with, nor consent of, the signatories to the MA63, Baru said.
Now, Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution says ‘The States of the Federation shall be Johore, Kedah, Kelantan, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Penang, Perak, Perlis, Sabah, Sarawak, Selangor and Terengganu.
This amendment is a violation of the Malaysia Agreement. The amendment of Article 1(2) has derogated the status of Sarawak in the Federation.”
Then, on 23rd November, 2016, it was reported that, in the Sabah State Legislative Assembly, Jeffrey Kitingan had made similar assertions, in relation to Sabah, as had Baru Bian in relation to Sarawak.
Let’s look at the Article 1 (2) before the amendment in 1976 :
The States of the Federation shall be –
(a) the States of Malaya, namely Johore, Kedah, Kelantan, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Penang, Perak, Perlis, Selangor and Terengganu;
(b) the Borneo States, namely, Sabah and Sarawak; and
(c) the State of Singapore.
And, now, Article 1 (2) after the amendment :
The States of the Federation shall be Johore, Kedah, Kelantan, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Penang, Perak, Perlis, Sabah, Sarawak, Selangor and Terengganu.
I went into the archives of the Hansard reports of Parliament to check on the debate and the passing of the bill relating to this amendment, on 12th and 13th July, 1976.
Read the passage of the speech of the MP from Permatang Pauh that I have marked out.
And so I ask again, I am I right in my understanding as I wrote in 2012?
Are Baru Bian and Jeffrey Kitingan right in what they asserted in 2016?
FMT reported on 28th July, 2018 that Batu Sapi MP and now minister in the PM’s dept in charge of law, V.K. Liew, said that the Cabinet committee formed, as promised in the PH manifesto, “to identify the best method to fulfil the Malaysia Agreement 1963″, would come up with its report in 6 months, in keeping with the PH manifesto.
More importantly, he is reported to have said that ” one of the main issues the committee will deliberate on would be Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution, whereupon amendment to the article in 1976, Sabah and Sarawak were “downgraded” from equal partners of the Federation of Malaysia to the level of other states, such as Selangor and Perlis”.
We will await the report.
The manifesto suggests that the implementation of the promises under the 5 Pillars will span over 5 years.
This matter of restoring Sabah and Sarawak to their position before the amendment should take priority.
Report made public within 6 months.
Thereafter, matters put right without delay.
The People's Parliament 
bigjoe99
September 3, 2018
But if we strictly to go by the Constitutions and read that Sabah and Sarawak are equal partners of the Federation, it also means that Sabah and Sarawak is subject to the constraints of electoral limits of their population – they should have FEWER parliamentary seats and say in Parliament unlike now. In fact, given that, Sabah and Sarawak can easily have their rights wiped out by Parliament they cannot influence.
So the argument cuts both way. its not a one way street.