PARLIAMENT may be extended for another two days to allow Malaysia Agreement 1963-related (MA63) constitutional amendments to be debated, said Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.

The law minister told the Dewan Rakyat today: “As we only have three days left for government bills, Putrajaya will request for Parliament to be extended for two more days to approve all these bills.”

“I want to assure Parliament that bills concerning MA63 will be debated (second reading) in this session.”

The current Dewan Rakyat session will last from October 25 to December 16. The extension will see the session end on December 21.

The government has tabled four constitutional amendments aimed at restoring the positions of Sabah and Sarawak. The amendments will involve articles 1(2), 160(2) and 161A(6) of the Federal Constitution.

The first proposed amendment to Article 1(2) is aimed at defining Sabah and Sarawak as separate territories, instead of states under the Federation of Malaysia – similar to what was tabled during the Pakatan Harapan (PH) rule in 2019.

Other amendments involve the recognition of Malaysia Day, and redefining the meaning of “the Federation” and “natives” in Sarawak.

The Santubong MP was responding to a question from opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim (Port Dickson-PH), who asked when parliamentary reforms agreed between the coalition and government will be implemented.

Anwar said: “MA63 is one of the key points in our MOU (memorandum of understanding) and we all want it to be passed in this session.”

“Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob (Bera-BN) and other ministers have assured us that this will be carried out as soon as possible.”

He said PH understands that anti-party-hopping amendments cannot be done in this session as the draft bills are not ready, but the coalition has raised the issue of equal parliamentary constituency funding for all MPs.

“We have always insisted that allocations should be given to all opposition MPs, regardless of whether they are party to the MOU or not.”

On this, Wan Junaidi said the government is in agreement with the opposition.

“However, during the early steering committee meetings, it has been decided that only those involved with the MOU will be given funds first.

“Nevertheless, I will raise the issue again in the next meeting.” – November 25, 2021.