In the past years, since becoming President of Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK), I have been called for investigation many times concerning the right of Sabah and Sarawak to seek independence from Malaysia.

A few days ago, I was again called by the police for investigation concerning the issue of the right to seek independence by Sabah and Sarawak from the Federation of Malaysia. However, I informed the investigating officer that I could not attend yet because I have to continue handling a dangerous drugs trial in court.

The officer was kind enough to defer the investigation to the next few days.

My explanation to the police about this right will be nothing new, and I hope the relevant authorities and members of the public will stop harassing me about this issue. They can always refer to my previous statements. It is a waste of manpower and government funds to continue repeating the same thing over and over again.

As a lawyer and in exercising my freedom of speech and the public's right to know, I was simply explaining the law and expressing my opinion about the right to independence.

Whether the people of Sabah and Sarawak want to exit from Malaysia is their choice, but as a lawyer, I have a right to express my opinion.

Being involved in politics and passionate about protecting the constitution and Sarawak's rights, there is a reasonable expectation from members of the public that I should explain and express my opinion about the rights of independence for colonies in the world.

I wish to inform the relevant authorities and also my fellow Sarawakians and Sabahans that such harassment will not stop me from speaking the truth and speaking about the rights of Sarawak and Sabah under international law and under the federal and state constitutions.

Even if I stop talking, many will come forward to speak on these issues.

You can kill a soul from speaking, but you cannot kill his voice because others will speak for him even if he can no longer speak.

Sabah and Sarawak were once colonies of the United Kingdom, but by the dubious Malaysia Agreement (MA63), they were handed to Malaya by the United Kingdom (UK) to enlarge Malaya, effective 16 September 1963.

Malaya then advised the United Nations Secretariat that with the acquisition of Sarawak and Sabah as part of Malaya, Malaya had changed its name to Malaysia.

Therefore, it is difficult to deny that Sabah and Sarawak are not colonies of Malaya. We can see that when a country becomes a colony of a foreign country, the foreign country will normally take and exploit the natural and manpower resources of their colonies to develop their own country. Being in Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak have lost their oil and gas resources worth tens of billions of ringgit every year to the federal government of Malaya (Malaysia).

According to legal experts, the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) is an invalid treaty, and if invalid, this means Malaysia could not have been formed in the first place. The failure to incorporate MA63 into the federal constitution prior to the recent amendment to the constitution posed a serious legal issue that Sabah and Sarawak were not part of Malaysia before MA63 (if valid) was recognized by the federal constitution.

May it be made known to all that there is also a legal opinion by a prominent lawyer in Malaya that the failure or non-compliance to fulfill the 18 and 20 points raised by Sarawak and Sabah for the Malaysia Agreement until now means that Sabah and Sarawak may wish or can consider whether to stay or to exit from the Federation of Malaysia.

Singapore exited from the Federation of Malaysia by mutual consent, but Lee Kuan Yew told his insiders it was a "bloodless coup" carefully planned to exit.

VOON LEE SHAN
Parti Bumi Kenyalang