KOTA KINABALU: A steering committee, which comprises members from three entities, has been tasked to compile historical and legal facts for the upcoming school syllabus on the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Sabah and Sarawak Affairs) Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili said this steering committee will be made up of members from the Sabah and Sarawak Affairs Division (BHESS), Sabah Law Society (SLS), and Institute for Development Studies (IDS) Sabah.
The steering committee was formed to expedite the compilation all historical facts that led to the formation of the federation of Malaysia 58 years ago.
MA63 is the document related to the formation of the federation of Malaysia in 1963,when Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore joined with the states in the peninsula (then known as the federation of Malaya) to become one.
Two years later, Singapore became an independent state.
"The Steering Committee will develop a syllabus on MA63 and formation of Malaysia for schools, tertiary students, and public references.
"It will be coordinated by Sabah and Sarawak Affairs Division (BHESS), and the drawing team led by Sabah Law Society (SLS), with input from the Institute for Development Studies (IDS) Sabah.
"The Education Ministry, as well as members of academia, will develop the syllabus for the target groups," Ongkili said in a statement today.
He said he had chaired an online meeting with senior lawyers from SLS, led by its president Roger Chin, and IDS board members led by its chairman, Dr Mohd Yaakub Johari, on Monday.
Ongkili added they aimed to produce an output that would be legally and academically acceptable, hence help to eliminate wrong or inaccurate factual interpretation, and instead provide a true reflection of events and agreements.
"There has been a lot of interpretations on MA63, and we hope this syllabus will set the record right. We want to prevent the public from being misled from the true reflection of the historical agreement," he said.