KUCHING, April 4 — Pakatan Harapan’s proposed constitutional amendment to restore Sabah and Sarawak’s status in the federation only does so in name, Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) parliamentary chief whip Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said today.
He pointed out that the governments, lawmakers and communities of the two states had not been consulted prior to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk VK Liew’s tabling of the Bill to do so today.
“We feel that this matter was hastily made without giving enough opportunities to the stakeholders or those involved to study and discuss in-depth its implications before it was tabled in Parliament,” he said in a statement.
Fadillah, who is Petrajaya MP, said the amendment should have been drawn up after taking into account the views of all stakeholders at the federal as well as state levels.
GPS has consequently called for the Bill to be postponed until the special steering committee for the review of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) chaired by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad can gather additional feedback on the matter.
He said the rights of the two states as enshrined in the Federal Constitution were also at stake and not just their nominal status as equal partners to the peninsula.
Fadillah said these include the definition of the word “federation” under Article 160 of the Federal Constitution in reference to the Federation of Malaya Agreement in 1957, which only involves Peninsular Malaysia.
He also said proportionate representation of the two states in the federal Cabinet as well as in both Houses of Parliament should also be introduced.
“In other words, the amendments must encompass the spirit and soul contained in MA63, read together with the Inter-Governmental Committee Report recommendations and the Federal Constitution,” he said.
Fadillah said the GPS state government was also adamant that any amendment to the Federal Constitution involving the state must be brought to the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly prior to reaching Parliament.
“What is the top priority for Sarawak is that the amendments must be comprehensive, involving the rights which should have been returned to us, not just changing the status of Sarawak as an equal partner only,” he said.
He said the nominal change without returning lost rights to Sarawak will not bring any meaning to the state or validate the struggle of the state’s government and its people.
