KUCHING, Dec 8 — Deputy Prime Minister II Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof today said he is sharing the responsibility of resolving outstanding issues concerning the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) with his federal Cabinet colleague Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali due to the tight one-month deadline.
Fadillah who is also Petra Jaya MP said he will be discussing matters related to implementing MA63 with Sarawak state leaders to find out their priorities while Armizan who is minister in the Prime Minister’s Department for Sabah and Sarawak affairs will do the same but with Sabah leaders.
“What can be solved within a month, we will solve them while the rest, hopefully, we will see and maybe we will have to bring the matters to Parliament to get the approval,” he told reporters upon arrival at the Kuching International Airport.
“It is, therefore, my top priority in my discussion with the Sarawak leaders,” he said. He hoped that matters that had been discussed previously could be finalised within the given one-month time frame. Fadillah, the first Bornean to be appointed deputy prime minister, also said he was not involved in any talks related to the formation of the national “unity government”.
The Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu vice-president clarified that such matters had been left to the presidents of the respective involved political parties.
In the first federal Cabinet meeting after the 15th general election earlier this week, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had tasked Fadillah to resolve matters relating to the demands by Sarawak and Sabah under MA63 within a month.
