KUCHING, April 21 ― Pujut state lawmaker Fong Pau Teck defended today his motion to rename the Sarawak chief minister as the state prime minister and the state legislative assembly as Parliament, saying this would restore the state’s status and is in ine with the Malaysia Agreement 1963.

Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem had on Sunday called Fong's motion stupid and a political ploy to attract attention.

Fong said he has notified Sarawak Speaker Datuk Amar Asfia Awang Nasar of his plan to table the motion at the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly, which begins its sitting today.

“It is okay with me if the chief minister calls my motion stupid as it is his democratic right to do so, but to me, it is not,” he told reporters after attending the opening address by Sarawak Governor Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud this morning.

Explaining the rationale on why he wants to table the motion, Fong, who is now an independent lawmaker after being sacked from Sarawak DAP, said “when Singapore was part of Malaysia from 1963 to 1965, Lee Kuan Yew was called Prime Minister and Singapore's legislative body was referred to as Parliament. This puts Singapore as an equal partner of Malaya after the formation of Malaysia.”

Citing another example, he said the chief executive officer of the Scottish government is known as Prime Minister and its legislative body is called Parliament, even though Scotland is part of the United Kingdom.

“Why is that in our case, we cannot call our Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem as our Prime Minister of Sarawak and our State Legislative Assembly as Sarawak Parliament?” he asked, adding that his motion did not advocate Sarawak’s secession from Malaysia.

“I have no intention of bringing Sarawak out of Malaysia,” he stressed.