SARAWAK Pakatan Harapan representatives in the state consultative committee on the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) agreed to include six words in a constitutional amendment bill but then rushed to table the bill without making the promised change, panelists at a forum said in Kuching today.

The words “pursuant to the Malaysia Agreement 1963” were to have been included in the Constitution Amendment Bill 2019 that was tabled in Parliament this month, said Gabungan Parti Sarawak’s (GPS) Idris Buang, who was on the consultative committee.

The bipartisan consultative committee was established by the state legislative assembly to advise  Sarawak representatives sitting on the special cabinet committee on the MA63.

Four PH representatives in the committee See Chee How (Batu Lintang), Ali Biju (Krian) and DAP reps Irene Chang (Bukit Assek) and Chew Chiu Sing (Batu Batu) had agreed to the addition of the six words, said Idris.

Earlier this month, PH failed to secure the two-thirds support of the Dewan Rakyat necessary to change the federal constitution to restore the status of Sabah and Sarawak in the context of the federation of Malaysia.

The ruling coalition needed 148 votes from the Lower House to amend Article 1(2) of the federal constitution but only secured 138 votes.

There were 59 abstentions, 18 of which were from MPs in Sarawak’s ruling GPS.

Idris said PH’s backtracking on the agreement to add the six words to the bill was typical of the federal government which has shown a tendency to make U-turns.

“Too many U-turns in their (policy) decisions (and with) the mistrust, they are asking us to jump into a bottomless well.

We don’t know how to trust the PH government. Sarawakian do not trust the PH government.”

During question-and-answer time, Sarawak Assistant Law, State-Federal Relations and Project Monitoring  Minister Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali said PH had rushed through the bill that was meant for tabling at the end of the year. – April 28, 2019.