"The world turns on our every action, and our every omission, whether we know it or not.." – Abraham Verghese, American physician
The world turned on the Borneo Territories when Lord Cameron Cobbold, a governor of the Bank of England, learned in plutology and aphnology, not law, headed a fact-finding commission to study the feasibility of North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore joining Malaya in the proposed Federation of Malaysia as equal partners in an international treaty that birthed the Malaysia Agreement of 1963 (MA63).
A banker chosen to lead a political manifesto can only mean that his primary job description was to size up the inground wealth of the Borneo Territories for covert assessment and distribution to the neo-colonial powerhouse. Meanwhile, the leadership of Singapore and Brunei spawned other plans.
Sarawak proposed an 18-Point Agreement as a yardstick for joining the proposed federation based upon the Nine Cardinal Principles of the Rajahs of Sarawak emphasising total control of Sarawak’s affairs by Sarawakians in conformity with the international law doctrine of jus cogens. The resulting MA63 got adulterated and contaminated by avaricious plans of not so well-hidden hands.