KOTA KINABALU, Sept 17 — Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government will work on returning equal rights to Sabah and Sarawak as soon as possible, but it cannot set a time frame for when this will take effect.
Dr Mahathir, who had last night reiterated PH’s election manifesto promise to give the east Malaysian states recognition as per the Malaysia Agreement in 1963, said it may take time to amend the Federal Constitution due to possible opposition at Parliament.
“At the moment we don’t have the two-thirds majority. It we need to change the Constitution, we have to figure out how we can achieve two-thirds majority.
“We can have discussions immediately but to get it approved will take time,” he said, adding that it will also depend on the people working as well as the push from Sabah and Sarawak.
When asked why the Opposition MPs would not support amendments to return rights to Sabah and Sarawak, Dr M said that the Opposition could be unpredictable.
“We’ll find out whether we can go to Parliament or not, when we talk, they say one thing, when they are there, they get the whip telling them not to support, then we have a problem,” he said.
“Like recently when we wanted to repeal the Anti-Fake News Bill. We thought they would support us but when went to the Senate, we did not have the majority so we lost,” he said.
The PH coalition together with Parti Warisan Sabah and Upko control 125 seats in Parliament but need 148 to change the Constitution.
Dr Mahathir said that the government will study what provisions needed to be repealed and what needed to be substituted or added into the Constitution that would be in line with the spirit of the Malaysia Agreement 1963.
“There are certain things which are decided in Kuala Lumpur but people are not familiar with the conditions in Sabah and Sarawak. We have to address that issue.
“Either we have more Sabah and Sarawak working in the peninsula and in the federal government, or else we will need to have some of the decision-making transferred to Sabah and Sarawak,” he said, adding that the Education and Health Ministries were among the portfolios earmarked for devolution of power.
“I am told your schools are made of wood, rotting and need to be attended to. There’s no water supply and no toilets. A lot of things need to be done,” he said.
Dr Mahathir was in Sabah for the Malaysia Day celebrations last night and met with Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal this morning. He left for Kuala Lumpur after the meeting.
He told the crowd last night that the government would return the status of the Borneo states as states in the federation of Malaysia to two out of three equal parties in the federation.
