Yong: DAP ultimatum confirms amendment is a trap
KOTA KINABALU: The ultimatum from DAP that either Sabah and Sarawak support the 2019 Amendment bill or else it will be “the end of MA63 committees” confirms the view of Sarawak Government MPs that the proposed amendment to Article 1(2) of the Constitution is a trap, said Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Datuk Yong Teck Lee.
He said the amendment lumps Sabah and Sarawak together as a sub-section (b) in Article 1(2) of the constitution in the category of States of Malaysia, namely:
The Federal Constitution is amended in Article 1 by substituting for Clause (2) the following Clause:
(2) The States of the Federation shall be
(a) Johore, Kedah, Kelantan, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Penang, Perak, Perlis, Selangor and Terengganu; and (b) Sabah and Sarawak. “In what way does the above amendment accord equal status of Sabah, Sarawak and Malaya? Instead, it reaffirms Sabah and Sarawak as simply another state equivalent to any other state in Malaya.
“Further, remember that the 2019 Amendment bill leaves untouched Article 160 of the Constitution which defined ‘The Federation’ means the Federation established under the Federation of Malaya Agreement 1957’. This means that the 2019 bill reinforces MA57 and dishonour MA63. MA57 is the Federation of Malaya Agreement. MA63 is the Federation of Malaysia Agreement,” he said in a statement yesterday.
“If Sabah and Sarawak support the 2019 bill, then it means that the Sabah and Sarawak leaders have abandoned MA63 in favour of MA57. But if Sabah and Sarawak reject the 2019 bill, then the Federal Government will end the MA63 committees. This is the ultimatum given to us by DAP.
“This is a no-win choice for Sabah and Sarawak. I congratulate the representatives of party Malaya, DAP, for such a master stroke to kill off the struggle of Sabah and Sarawak for compliance with the Malaysia Agreement 1963,” he added.
Yong said the DAP MP for Kota Kinabalu, Chan Foong Hin, had exposed the true colours of his party by insisting that Sabah and Sarawak accept the toxic 2019 bill.
“People have not forgotten what Chan stated categorically in a 2012 forum that “the 20 Points are not valid”. Another video of the (then Pakatan Rakyat) Kuching Declaration on 16 September 2012 also stated that “Sabah and Sarawak are equal partners”, suggesting that Sabah and Sarawak are not equal to Malaya. These evidence of DAP dirty tricks are still available in the social media. I believe Chan is intelligent. But I am not sure if he realises that he has been turned into a puppet,” he said.