Voon: All GPS MPs urged to support amendment bill
KUCHING: Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) MPs are urged to support the amendment bill to Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution to restore the equal partner status of Sarawak and Sabah.
In making the call yesterday, national Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) vice women chief Voon Shiak Ni said the Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal government would fulfill its promise to restore Sarawak as an equal partner under the ‘New Malaysia’.
“The bill to amend the Constitution is expected to be tabled and debated in the next two weeks in Parliament.
“It will then be put to vote, and only by supporting the bill could the status of Sabah and Sarawak as equal parterns with the Federation of Malaya be restored,” she said in a statement received here yesterday.
Voon added that Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had, since last year, said that Sarawak ‘will be restored as an equal partner under the New Malaysia’.
“A bill of such purpose was never tabled despite the loud public outcry from Sarawakians and the civil societies for the past few years.
“It is a long-overdue issue that needs to be addressed. I, as a Sarawakian, am glad that Parliament will finally move this bill to restore the status of Sarawak as an equal partner,” she said, and hoping that MPs from GPS would give their undivided support to the bill.
She recalled that Sarawak and Sabah alongside Singapore were equal partners to the Federation of Malaya when they signed the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) to form Malaysia.
Singapore made its exit in 1965.
“And 13 years down the road, Sarawak and Sabah were downgraded from equal partners to among 13 states in Malaysia following amendments to Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution in 1976.”
She added that people would expect MPs from all political divides to stand together with the PH government to support the amendment bill.