KUCHING: The technical committee of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) Implementation Action Council will meet next Monday (March 2) to discuss outstanding issues, says Datuk Mustapha Sakmud.
The Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Sabah and Sarawak) said the meeting was originally scheduled for Saturday (Feb 28) but had to be postponed.
He said the issues to be discussed included the special grants to Sabah and Sarawak under Article 112D of the Federal Constitution.
"Several issues remain unresolved in the ongoing discussions and we will try to seek a resolution in the technical committee.
"Any decisions made by the technical committee will be brought to the main committee at a later date," he told reporters after delivering an address to federal department heads at Bangunan Sultan Iskandar here on Tuesday (Feb 24).
Mustapha said one issue which had achieved good progress was the Borneonisation agenda of the federal civil service in Sabah and Sarawak.
He said 87.5% of federal civil servants in Sarawak now comprised Sarawakians while the rate in Sabah was 71.88%.
"We have not set a specific target percentage but we are trying to boost the Borneonisation agenda," he said.
At the same time, Mustapha encouraged Sarawakian civil servants to take up the challenge of serving in other states to gain experience, particularly in Putrajaya.
"We can learn the work culture in other places and bring it back home to improve our efforts to plan and implement the state's development," he said.
He added that interaction among civil servants from different states was also important for nation building.
"We can all learn from one another through our interactions," he said.
