20-point Agreement - History

History

From the international law perspective, moves were already afoot to turn decolonization into a major international issue. On 14 December 1960, the United Nations General Assembly had adopted the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples – the famous Resolution 1514 – with 89 votes in favour and only 9 abstentions. Article 5 of Resolution 1514, states: Immediate steps shall be taken, in Trust and Non-Self-Governing Territories or all other territories which have not yet attained independence, to transfer all powers to the peoples of those territories, without any conditions or reservations, in accordance with their freely expressed will and desire, without any distinction as to race, creed or colour, in order to enable them to enjoy complete independence and freedom, moreover, Article 3 provided that nadequacy of political, economic, social or educational preparedness should never serve as a pretext for delaying independence.’ To monitor the implementation of Resolution 1514, the General Assembly created the Special Committee on the Situation With Regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (referred to popularly as the UN Committee on Colonialism) in 1961. Even though Great Britain abstained from voting on Resolution 1514, pressure on her to decolonize was palpable. Not only did this pressure come from the international community, it came from its strongestally, the United States of America who extracted this concession from the British in the Atlantic Charter.

Under an agreement signed between Great Britain and the Federation of Malaya, the issue of self-determination with respect to the peoples of North Borneo and Sarawak, formed the bedrock of yet another challenge to the formation of the Federation of Malaysia. A Joint Statement issued by the British and Malayan Federal Governments on 23 November 1961, clause 4 provided: Before coming to any final decision it is necessary to ascertain the views of the peoples of North Borneo and Sarawak to supported the proposal to create the new federation with Malaya and Singapore. It has accordingly been decided to set up a Commission to carry out this task and to make recommendations.

In the spirit of ensuring that decolonization was carried in accordance with the wishes of the peoples of Singapore, Sarawak, Brunei and North Borneo, the British Government, working with the Federation of Malaya Government, appointed a Commission of Enquiry for North Borneo and Sarawak in January 1962 to determine if the people supported the proposal to create a Federation of Malaysia. The five-man team, which comprised two Malayans and three British representatives, was headed by Lord Cameron Cobbold. and The Lansdowne Committee, an inter-governmental committee was appointed to work out the details of the final of the Malaysia Agreement of opinion in North Borneo and Sarawak by Lord Lansdowne served for Britain and Tun Abdul Razak, Deputy Prime Minister of the Federation of Malaya served for Malaya.

The 20 points were written with a view to safeguarding the interests, rights, and the autonomy of the people of Sabah upon the formation of the federation of Malaysia. A similar proposal, with certain differences in content, was made by Sarawak, and is commonly referred to as the 18-point agreement.

Attention is often drawn to these memoranda by those who believe that their principles were not subsequently adhered to after federation. There have been numerous calls for the 20 point memorandum to be reviewed so as to take into account social, economic, and political changes over time.