KUCHING, Aug 30 2026: Former Law minister Zaid Ibrahim suggested that national solidarity could not be established when Malayan parties are weak and that Malay unity is crucial, among other things, for Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA) to be negotiated fairly with Sabah and Sarawak.
“Malay unity is essential so that the Malay states in the federation have the necessary political strength to determine the trajectory of national issues,” he wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter).
“Today the Malay states are weak. When Sarawak says it has the right to oil and gas under its domestic ordinance, the PDA (Petroleum Development Act 1974) becomes meaningless.
“When Sabah and Sarawak proclaim their territorial waters as 200 nautical miles, it renders our Law of the Sea of 2012 meaningless. They also have different ideas about what constitutes the continental shelf,” Zaid believed.
He added although education is still part of the Federal list, “Sarawak has autonomy, and you never know where that autonomy will lead us.”
He said Sabah has also its own Ministry of Education.
“You want a special grant of 40 per cent of revenue derived from Sabah. You want one third of all parliamentary seats. You have 29 items you are pursuing under MA63 and countless other claims you claim to be in “the spirit of MA63”
“You can say that it was all part of MA63. You can even rely on some passages in the IGC. But that’s what happened in 1963 when we were weak. We could not object to the terms dictated by Whitehall in 1963,” Zaid said.
He said today, as the political configuration stands, the Malay states are still weak, saying “if we were to visit Sabah and Sarawak, we could be denied entry for no reason. Similarly, we could not practice our profession or business in Sabah and Sarawak.”
“Then you want Borneonisation of the civil service. You want the ports and other infrastructure under your control. Sarawak already achieved that .
“Now you know why we need to be united so that the national interests that are fairly defined can be agreed upon.
“We want to be a good, reliable partner in the federation, but we can’t achieve that if we are not in a position to negotiate with Sabah and Sarawak from equal strength
“Sabah and Sarawak like to say they have red lines in the negotiation. Everyone can draw red lines. Only political power can change the red lines,” he concluded.
Zaid noted that former Sabah Chief Minister Salleh Said Keruak “totally misunderstood the politics of Malay unity.”
He said it is not racist in character; it’s not to consolidate power to the detriment of the non-Malays. “It’s also not to undermine the solidarity of the national framework—none of that,” he asserted.
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