Borneo Forum (BF), an all-Borneo NGO umbrella body, made the Malaysia Agreement the focus of its deliberations in Kota Kinabalu yesterday.
BF brings together the Borneo Heritage Foundation (BHF), the Sarawak Dayak National Union (SDNU) and observers from Kalimantan.
The ad hoc meeting in KK resolved that the Malaysia Agreement will be raised by a Sabah-Sarawak delegation at a briefing at the House of Commons in London on March 19.
The London meeting was set up by Hindu Rights Action Front (Hindraf) chair P Waythamoorthy (right) who said that Hindraf will also be represented.
"We will prepare a joint memorandum for the London meet," said BF protem chair Jeffrey Gapari Kitingan. "Two researchers are in London to gather material from the Rhodes Library in Oxford."
Sarawak environmentalist John Anthony Brian briefed the meet on the progress made by the two Sarawak researchers in London.
BF pro-tem secretary-general Paul Kadang said the memorandum will have to be comprehensive and thorough so as to convince the UK goverment.
"The focus will be on the undertaking and assurances to Sabah and Sarawak under the Malaysia Agreement," said Paul.
The failure of the federal government to live up to the promises of the Malaysia Agreement was attributed to "the lack of a permanent monitoring and coordinating body".
The London meet was scheduled to be held earlier this month but was postponed after a simmering crisis in the Sabah chapter of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) threatened to erupt into open warfare.
Kitingan (left) is the PKR national vice-president with overall responsibility for Sabah and Sarawak.
Earlier, BHF delegate and former Tuaran MP Yunof Maringking briefed the meet on the controversy surrounding the use of the term Allah, an attribute of God, by Christians in Malay print.
"This issue would not have arisen if the 1st Point in the 20 Points for Sabah and 18 Points for Sarawak had been honoured," stressed Yunof, a senior lawyer in private practice.
"It was the promise of the Malaysia Agreement that both Sabah and Sarawak would not have an official religion."
Yunof saw no reason why Sabah and Sarawak, along with Labuan, Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Malacca, "should be bogged down by the religious history of the Malay sultanates".
He went on to talk about various state enactments on several terms used in Islam as well and fatwas which referred to non-Muslims.
'Let the court resolve the matter'
The meet was unanimous that the state enactments, being inferior laws, were ultra vires the federal constitution and the fatwas non-binding on non-Muslims.
The meet noted that God was rightly explained as Tuhan in the national anthem, Rukun Negara and in Parliamentary usage.
They resolved that this should be maintained and not replaced by the term Allah since the latter was an attribute of God and not the only one.
There are 999 other attributes of God, the meet agreed. "Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohd had wrongly described Tuhan as the Christian God."
The BHF legal committee which was present cautioned the meet against polemics on the current court case pitting the Herald, the Catholic weekly, against the Home Minister.
"The issue is whether the Home Minister has the power to use the Printing Presses Act to prohibit the Herald from using the term 'Allah' in Malay print. Let the court resolve the matter ," advised the committee. "
Nazri showed disrespect
The meet was not without its prickly moments when de facto Law Minister Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz was rapped on the knuckles for showing disrespect to Judge Lau Bee Lan who presided over a Dec 31 ruling favour of the Herald.
"Nazri should be cited for contempt of court if he doesn't apologise," said BHF delegate Evelyn Gobile.
Nazri was also chided for having shown disrespect to Archbishop Murphy Pakiam by blaming him for the court case.
The meet did not touch on Nazri's (right) announcement that the federal government was agreeable to Christians in Sabah and Sarawak using the term Allah in Malay print.
However, they resolved that the Malay language was the common heritage of all Malaysians and no religious denomination should be restricted from using the language fully for faith-based activities.
BHF delegate Benedict Topin won the meet's approval for his analysis that Umno, the ruling party, had miscalculated on the Allah issue "and would not in any case back down on their politicisation of the issue".
"Already, Umno is politicising the Government Transformation Programme as well," said Benedict. "Those who attended the GRP briefing in KK last Sunday were shocked by the extent of politicisation."
Among its calender of activities for this year, the BF meet agreed that Sabah and Sarawak representatives should visit Kalimantan Tengah on April 24 for the harvest festival visit.
Kalimantan celebrates the harvest festival a month before Malaysian Borneo. On the cards are an All-Borneo Song and Music Festival and All-Borneo Safari.
The cultural ties between both halves of Borneo - "the world's best kept secret" - is seen as a prelude to indigenous groups in Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei drawing strength from the well-organised similar movements in Kalimantan.
On a final note, the BF meet resolved to accept the offer from the Chief Justice of the US Indian Nations Native Supreme Court to help develop the native court system in Malaysia.
The offer was made through John during a recent visit to the US. BF expects to co-ordinate on the matter with the state attorney-generals in Sabah and Sarawak and their respective bar councils.
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