Kota Kinabalu, Thursday, 29 January 2026
The MA63 Dashboard, though presented as an innovative monitoring tool, should honestly reflect one reality: progress on MA63 implementation is now moving in Reverse Gear.
This Reverse Gear is caused by the fundamentally erroneous parliamentary reply by the de facto Law and Institutional Reform Minister, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, who asserted that the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) contains no provisions relating to oil and gas ownership or regulation.
The Minister spoke as though Sabah (then North Borneo) and Sarawak did not exist as legal entities prior to 1963, and as though the long-established ordinances governing land, mining, and minerals were irrelevant or non-existent. Such a statement is not merely inaccurate, it is an insult to the intelligence of Sabahans and Sarawakians, as if we are ignorant of our own constitutional history and rights.
The effect of this statement goes far beyond semantics. On matters of oil and gas, the Federal Government has effectively applied the brakes to any meaningful MA63 progress, with the issue now pushed into the courts following legal action by Petronas.
The constitutional consequence cannot be ignored. A ministerial reply delivered in Parliament is not a personal opinion; it represents the position of the Federal Government and, under the principle of collective ministerial responsibility, binds the Cabinet as a whole. It remains to be seen whether federal ministers from Sabah and Sarawak will respond to, or distance themselves from, Azalina’s reply.
The MA63 Dashboard cannot credibly claim progress while constitutional positions are narrowed, historical realities are dismissed, and fundamental issues affecting Sabah remain unresolved.
Reverse gear is not progress.
Lawyer Yong Yit Jee
Supreme Council Member cum Vice Youth Chief
Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP)