KOTA KINABALU: It is important to understand that the 20 Points were
minimum conditions for Sabah to agree to be part of Malaysia, according
to STAR Sabah chief Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan.
“And, as pointed
out by the former State Archives Director, it was a memorandum of
conditions,” he said in a statement yesterday.
The 20 Points,
being a list of conditions, submitted by the leaders of the five Sabah
political parties (UNKO, USNO, Pasok, DP, UP) were therefore an
important milestone in the creation of Malaysia, he said.
“Without
these conditions being agreed and discussed one can conclude that there
would have been no Malaysia. It is that important,” he said.
“Therefore,
people, including politicians and the former State Archives Director
Datuk Datu Tigabelas should not be quick and shallow to dismiss the 20
Points Memorandum merely at its face value,” he said, adding that they
represented the desires and concerns of the British, the North Borneo
and Malaya.
The “weird” conditions referred to by Datu Tigabelas
were actually the results of earlier discussions by all parties
(British, Malaya and North Borneo) that led to the final 20 Points
Memorandum document, he said.
Jeffrey said the 20 Points were not the only important valid documents in the formation of Malaysia.
He
said Article 14 of the Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) Report also
states: “14. In certain aspects the Committee agreed that the
requirements of the Borneo States could appropriately be met by
undertakings or assurances to be given by the Government of the
Federation of Malaya rather than by Constitutional provisions and these
are mentioned in the appropriate sections of this Report.
“The
Committee agreed that the more important undertakings should be included
in the formal agreement and envisaged that the other undertakings and
assurances might be dealt with in exchanges of letters between the
Governments concerned.”
The above quote from the IGC Report
clearly validated not just the 20 Points Memorandum but even “letters of
exchanges” as well as undertakings and assurances, he said.
Jeffrey
contended that while various personalities have made significant
opinions on the 20 Points, none have fully captured the essence and the
overall importance of the 20 Points.
“It is important to view and
understand the significance of the 20 Points by connecting it as part of
a jig-saw-puzzle. Do not look at the 20-Points in isolation,” he said.
Wednesday, 13 June 2012
20 Points are conditions for formation of Malaysia – Jeffrey
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