THERE is little to show for Putrajaya’s promise to engage with Sarawak and Sabah on a fresh bill to amend the federal constitution to equalise the status of the Borneo states with the peninsula, said Sarawak Attorney-General Talat Mahmood Abdul Rashid.

“The minister in the Prime Minister’s Department did write to me, and to the Sabah A-G, to prepare for the amendment and to liaise with them.

“But there has been nothing since then,” Talat said today, referring to de facto law minister Liew Vui Keong.

Putrajaya’s first attempt to amend Article 1(2) last year failed to get the support of Sarawak MPs from the state’s ruling coalition, Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS). Constitutional amendments require the support of two-thirds of MPs in the Dewan Rakyat.

Talat said the federal government had promised to engage both states on a new bill to be tabled at the Dewan Rakyat this March.

The amendment is to restore the status of Sabah and Sarawak as equal partners in the federation of Malaysia, according to the original content of Malaysia Agreement signed in 1963.

Talat said Sarawak had given “our version of the amendment to them (federal government quite some time ago”, but did not say exactly when.

Since then, there has been little communication between the state and federal A-G.

Sarawak’s position on the amendment is for the words “pursuant to the Malaysia Agreement 1963” to be added to the article.

The version tabled for voting in the Dewan Rakyat last year did not have the words.

Sarawak MPs, backed by Umno and PAS MPs, abstained from voting for it, denying the government the two-thirds needed to change the constitution.

Last week, Batang Sadong MP Nancy Shukri had warned Putrajaya not to take the same path it did last year by disclosing the details of the amendment only “at the last minute”.

Nancy, whom Liew succeeded as law minister, said GPS MPs will not tolerate any “last-minute surprises”.

Last year, GPS MPs said they only saw the proposed amendment on the morning the bill was to be tabled and debated.

Nancy said MPs needed time to study the proposed amendments in advance.

“We need to see what it is, (otherwise) we cannot commit (to support) anything.

“We supported the amendment but we did not vote for the provisions they were putting in.” – January 21, 2020.