Advertisement Since the founding of the Federation of Malaysia in 1963, the nation’s politicians have grappled with the relationship between Sabah and Sarawak, the two states on the island of Borneo, with the federal government in Kuala Lumpur. At the heart of this issue is the Malaysia Agreement of 1963, or MA63 for short, which set the terms under which Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore would come together with Malaya to form the Federation. (Singapore would later leave in 1965.) In the decades since, the autonomy granted to these regions by MA63 has been slowly diluted, creating resentments about overbearing federal authority. Since the shock election victory of the opposition Pakatan Harapan coalition in 2018, however, the cause of autonomy for Sabah and Sarawak is once again on the agenda, and gaining momentum.