GABUNGAN Parti Sarawak MPs, whose support is key to the success of Putrajaya’s proposed constitutional amendment to grant Sabah and Sarawak equal status, are still making last-ditch attempts to change the bill, the coalition’s parliamentary whip said.

As such, it is “premature” to say if federal lawmakers from the Sarawak ruling coalition will support the bill when it comes up for a vote tomorrow, Fadillah Yusof told The Malaysian Insight.

The Petra Jaya MP said the Sarawak lawmakers are “proposing a few things” for the Constitution (Amendment) Bill on Article 1(2), including a change of the wording.

The votes of GPS’ 18 MPs are crucial if the government is to have the necessary two-thirds in the 222-seat Parliament to pass the bill.

Pakatan Harapan has 129 seats. Even if it manages to obtain the support of Sabah allies Parti Warisan Sabah and Upko, their combined 10 votes will still leave it nine votes short of the magic 148.

This is assuming that the opposition on the peninsula votes against the bill. 

‘Best if bill is withdrawn’

It appears GPS is unlikely to fall in with the government’s wishes, however. Fadillah said it would be best for Putrajaya to withdraw the bill if it won’t heed the demands for changes.

And if that should prove to be the case, he said the government should “wait until negotiations with the steering committee on the MA63 are finalised” to table the bill.

The steering committee was set up by the federal government last year to study the implementation of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), in which lies the basis for Sabah, Sarawak, Malaya and Singapore to form Malaysia.

It is set down as a historical fact that Sabah and Sarawak joined the federation as sovereign entities, the British having granted the two states autonomy prior to the formation of Malaysia.

A constitutional amendment in 1976, however, downgraded the equal status of the two Borneo states to that of being merely two more additions to the 11 states of Malaysia. 

Article 1(2) of the federal constitution on September 16, 1963 defines Sabah and Sarawak as “the Borneo states” and the 11 other states as “the states of Malaya”.

The 1976 amendment lumps Sabah and Sarawak together with the other states and drops the identifiers “the Borneo states” and “the states of Malaya”.

The current proposed bill tabled last Thursday reads “the states of the Federation shall be (a) Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Malacca, Negri Sembilan, Pahang, Penang, Perak, Perlis, Selangor and Terengganu; and (b) Sabah and Sarawak.”

De facto law minister Liew Vui Keong last week said that the phrase “the states of Malaya” was not included in the amendment as the terminology is not relevant to the country’s present state.

As for “the Borneo states”, he said it was left out because of “implications with other sovereign countries, such as Brunei and Kalimantan of Indonesia, which are also part of Borneo”.

Those who support the bill say its meaning is clear enough that Sabah and Sarawak equal status is restored.

PKR leader See Chee How, a lawyer by training, said that by virtue of the conjunctive “and” separating Sabah and Sarawak from the 11 states, the amendment has now made clear that the federation of Malaysia is made up of 11 West Malaysian states, and the two East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak.

“That has, therefore, restored the position of Sarawak and Sabah as the founding partners of the Federation of Malaysia,” he had said.

Piecemeal changes

Fadillah, who is the former works minister, said the government should listen to the MA63 steering committee which has studied the 1963 agreement, the Inter-governmental Committee report of 1962 on the formation of Malaysia, and the federal constitution.

He said GPS MP also want Putrajaya to form a select committee to draw up the constitutional amendment bill to restore Sabah and Sarawak to their rightful position “as a complete package”, instead of on a piecemeal basis.

He was referring to other laws and provisions that also touch on the rights of the two states that Putrajaya has not indicated would be amended.

Fadillah said if the government insists on proceeding with the bill and piecemeal changes, GPS MPs would have to insist that the bill be reworded to reflect the spirit of MA63.

Sarawak PH chief Chong Chieng Jen is wrong about Sabah’s acceptance of the bill, he said.

Chong said if Warisan found the bill acceptable, there was no reason Sarawak could not. 

Fadillah said Chong was wrong, and that Sabah leaders were also pushing for a rewording of the bill. 

“I know (the) chief minister of Sabah is also not happy with the wording (of the bill).

A protest against the bill was held in Kota Kinabalu, on Saturday afternoon.

Yesterday, another protest was held in Sarawak, at Kuching’s Padang Merdeka. – April 8, 2019.