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| Performers wave flags in one segment of their performance. —Photo by Tan Song Wei |
“That is not the question. We will remain in Malaysia. We just want to restore some of the state’s powers that have been eroded,” said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg.
He was speaking to reporters after observing the full dress rehearsal for the Sarawak Day celebration at Kuching Waterfront. The celebration will take place tomorrow, starting at 9am.
Abang Johari, who is in charge of the celebration this year, said the celebration would also focus on historical events in 1963
when Malaysia was formed including special privileges accorded to Sarawak in the agreement.
He said the celebration would focus on the ‘Nine Cardinal Principles’, a constitution drafted by the third Rajah of Sarawak Charles Vyner Brooke, which was an agreement and ‘guarantee’ by Vyner Brooke, among others, that administrative powers would be handed over to the local people in 1941.
“The constitution was enacted in September 1941 but we were attacked by the Japanese in December 1941, so the constitution was never executed.
“After Japan surrendered, Vyner Brooke came back to Sarawak to continue his plans to hand over the administrative power to the people. However at the time, the state had no funds to develop itself.
“Due to such constraints, the British took over to help administer the state,” he elaborated.
Another document that will be displayed is the Malaysia Agreement, particularly Article 8 and Annex C.
“We will exhibit these so that the public know what our Chief Minister and the government is trying to do.”
He pointed out that a number of safeguards were recommended under Annex C, jointly issued by the British and Malayan governments.
“These safeguards will cover such matters as religious freedom, education, representation in the Federal Parliament, the position of the indigenous races, control of immigration, citizenship and the state constitution,” said Abang Johari, reading from the agreement.
“This is our right, and some of these rights were eroded.”
As these rights were entrenched in the agreement, Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem was working to restore them, he emphasised.
The Sarawak Day celebration will also feature re-enactments of Sarawak’s history, starting from the rule of the Sultanate of Brunei in 1599 to 1842 and the Rajah Brooke administrative period from 1842 to 1941.
The re-enactments will also feature the Japanese reign in 1941 to 1945 and the British colonial rule from 1946 to July 22, 1963.
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