KUALA LUMPUR, June 6 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has called for action to be taken against Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor for making claims that Penang is under the ownership of Kedah.
Anwar said action has to be taken against Sanusi who asked for the Federal Constitution to be amended to justify his controversial remark, so that these statements will not be made again.
“This is an irresponsible action, and the police have begun their investigation based on the existing laws, to take suitable action to prevent these kinds of statements that go against the principles of law and the Federal Constitution to continue.
“This includes the Penal Code and Sedition Act 1948, parts of the report have been presented to the Attorney-General for action taken,” Anwar told the Parliament during the Prime Minister’s Question Time here.
Anwar was responding to DAP’s Bagan MP Lim Guan Eng who asked if any action would be taken against the menteri besar who had asked for the Federal Constitution to be amended to erase Penang and be returned to Kedah, whereby it caused disunity among the locals as well as harmony and security of the country.
In his response, Anwar added that Penang’s status as a state separated from Kedah had been resolved before independence, at the time during the reign of Sultan Sir Badlishah Abdul Hamid Halim Shah.
He added that the matter had been reaffirmed since under the Federal Constitution.
“All past agreements were declared void. If there was one request from the late Sultan Badlishah to the British, it was for the people of Seberang Perai to decide whether they wanted to remain with Penang or join Kedah,” he said, adding that the final agreement to form the Federation of the Malay States in August 1957, remained as a basis of the current constitutional provisions.
“So why is the matter raised now? Because of state elections? The matter had never been raised before except [now] by an irresponsible leader,” Anwar said.
Earlier, several Opposition MPs tried to stop the question from being asked to the prime minster.
Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul however ruled for Lim to proceed with the question which was placed first in the Order Paper today for the Prime Minister’s Question Time.
Last month, Sanusi claimed that Penang is under the ownership of Kedah while Perak and Perlis are the only states that have a border with Kedah.
Sanusi said he is waiting for confirmation from the Department of Survey and Mapping Malaysia if there is a determined basis for the confirmation of Kedah’s border with other states.
The remarks were heavily criticised by the prime minister, who reportedly said Sanusi should understand the Federal Constitution and the Federation of Malaya Agreement.
Sanusi later claimed that historical and academic studies supported his claim that Kedah owned Penang, and that there was a need for the current generation to rectify the “distortion of history” and amend the Federal Constitution accordingly.
PAS Kota Baru MP Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan had in an earlier statement today said that the Kedah Menteri Besar’s statement was not an offence.
