KOTA KINABALU, Feb 16 — A Sabah DAP leader has questioned the need to change the title of the head of the state government, following in the footsteps of Sarawak’s recent move to refashion “chief minister” into “premier”.
Kota Kinabalu MP Chan Foong Hin said that it was an unnecessary move right now as the amendment to the state Constitutions does not carry any weight unless a change were made to the Federal Constitution as well.
“There have been proposals that Sabah follow suit in the name change. Should Sabah follow or not, right now I think it’s a premature issue.
“There has to be an amendment of the Federal Constitution first,” he said.
He said that it was crucial to push for more decentralisation of powers concentrated at the federal government first, including certain policy-making powers and fiscal powers, in order to achieve “true” autonomy.
“The amendment to the Sarawak Constitution does not make any changes in duties nor powers of the said position, and neither does it make the federal government devolve any more power back to the state,” he said in a statement here.
He said that the move was being lauded because the title “premier” is perceived as “higher” than “chief minister” so as to set Sarawak apart from other states like Penang and Melaka.
He said that at the end of the day, the title is there to denote and identify the position held by a member of the Sarawak Legislative Assembly who commands the confidence of the majority in said legislative assembly.
“While I agree with the argument that we — Sabah and Sarawak — are different, nevertheless, in order to make the ‘premier’ be effectively more powerful vis-a-vis other states in Malaya, a Federal Constitution amendment should follow suit.
“The term ‘premier’ does not jive with our Malaysian Federal Constitution. Article 160 of the Malaysian Federal Constitution do not define ‘premier’ as head of the executive in a state. Article 160 only define ‘chief minister’ and ‘mentri besar’ as head of executive in a state,” he pointed out.
“I can’t help but wonder as to the effectiveness of the said amendment to the Sarawak Constitution by itself without an amendment to the Malaysian Federal Constitution,” he said.
He also called out de facto Law Minister Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar for possibly overlooking the issue, saying that the Sarawakian federal minister could have included the word “premier” in the previous Bill to amend the Federal Constitution.
He also proposed that instead of following suit and using the word “premier”, Sabah can find its own “glamour” by claiming a fresh name.
“Why we must follow Sarawak and use ‘premier’?” he asked.
Yesterday, Sarawak passed a Bill to amend the state Constitution that would effectively change the name of its chief minister to “premier”.
The move was touted as another step towards gaining more autonomy and to differentiate the state from others in Malaysia.
Sabah and Sarawak have both had political agendas of gaining more autonomy within the Malaysian Federation, following the original intention of the forming of the country as stated in the Malaysia Agreement signed in 1963.
Last year, Malaysia amended its Constitution to recognise the two east Malaysian regions as two of three entities that made up the country, with the third being the remaining states on the peninsula.
Sabah and Sarawak had previously been defined as two of the country’s 13 states following a 1976 amendment.
