KOTA KINABALU: Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili is hoping to correct the true history of the formation of Malaysia.
The minister in the prime minister's department (Sabah and Sarawak affairs) said there was a need to dish out historical facts and remove the embellishment of political and emotional content used in the school syllabus.
"We should engage more historians and legal experts. We need to correct the meagre content on the formation of Malaysia in the school syllabus and publish widely the actual historical facts," he said in a statement in conjunction with Malaysia Day tomorrow.
The Parti Bersatu Sabah president added that the 1963 Malaysia Agreement (MA63) was fundamental for sustaining the federation, while strengthening unity and solidarity.
"Hence, addressing non-compliances to the agreement is crucial. We must always remember that there would be no Federation of Malaysia if there was no Malaysia Agreement.
"Many Malaysian leaders, including government administrators, have not given due respect to the importance of MA63," he said.
Ongkili, who will be accompanying Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob for his first official visit here as the prime minister tomorrow for the national-level Malaysia Day celebration, expressed hope for the latter to continue developing Sabah and Sarawak.
"It is getting harder for us, especially the politicians, to justify the existence of huge gaps in terms of the poverty level, income distribution and physical infrastructure.
"It is hard to explain to the youth why they have to resort to gotong-royong (community exercises) to fix roads and bridges when there are hardly such cases in the peninsula.
"This requires action on government planning, a major increase of development funds through the Economic Planning Unit, and proper implementation of machinery," he said.
Ongkili said he also hoped that more people of Sabah and Sarawak would be included in the development planning agencies at the federal level.