Kota Kinabalu: Majid said Lee impressed Fuad that if Malaysia was agreed, the Borneo states should secure enough parliamentary seats to hold more than one-third of the total, giving them a veto over any constitutional amendment.
“It is a numbers game,” Majid said Lee told Fuad.
“You Sabah, Sarawak, and we must get more than one-third of the parliamentary seats so that we can stop any constitutional amendment that is provided in the agreement when we joined, with certain protection agreement. Because if they have two-thirds, they can change it.”“Fuad pushed back. He asked Lee what would happen if 10 of his own Members of Parliament crossed to the other side, eroding that one-third majority.
Majid said Lee was unable to answer. Fuad then made his own demand. “He said, ‘I want a constitutional guarantee that any amendment of the constitution must go to the Privy Council. Short of that, I am not going to accept,’” Majid recounted.
“That was why when we formed Malaysia, there was a constitutional guarantee in the constitution that any constitutional amendment must go to the Privy Council. That was the demand of Stephens. Not many people know,” Majid said.
He said that provision was later removed after Tunku said it was an affront to national sovereignty.
The Privy Council option as final recourse for settling disputes was established in 1967.
Majid said the rapport between State and Federal leaders at the time was strong enough that Fuad accepted the removal, though he framed it with characteristic caution.
“He said, ‘Nation is a work in progress. The principle is, whatever you people want, whatever changes that is made, it must protect the interests of Sabah and the Federation of Malaysia,’” Majid recalled.
“That was the first challenge of the Federal Government to amend the agreement that was made between us and them.”Majid said with Fuad finally on board, he (Fuad) was appointed chairman of the Solidarity Committee tasked with formalising Sabah’s conditions for forming Malaysia.
