Fong: Bill would have no meaning if passed
KUCHING: The Federal Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2019 would have been meaningless if passed as it would not bring monetary gain or return the legislative power that has been taken from Sarawak and Sabah, says Sarawak Legal Counsel Dato Sri JC Fong.
“Any amendment to the constitution should be carefully and rationally considered. The amendment to the supreme laws of the country must be carried out only to advance national interest and the aspirations of the people,” Fong told The Borneo Post.
He stressed that the recent proposed amendment Bill to Article 1 ( 2) gave rise to allegations that decisions made for or against the amendment were politically motivated.
“The amendment to the constitution is part of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 ( MA63) discussions between the federal government and Sabah and Sarawak. These discussions were intended to restore whatever rights and constitutional safeguards promised to Sabah and Sarawak for them to join the formation of Malaysia,” he said.
Fong believes the amendment should meet three important objectives to fulfil the aspirations of the people of Sabah and Sarawak. The first objective was to restore the position of the two states to the position enjoyed by them on Malaysia Day and to give constitutional recognition
Any amendment to the constitution should be carefully and rationally considered. The amendment to the supreme laws of the country must be carried out only to advance national interest and the aspirations of the people. Dato Sri JC Fong, Sarawak Legal Counsel
to Malaysia Agreement 1963 ( MA63) which has been described by Harold Macmillan, then Prime Minister of United Kingdom as the birth certificate of Malaysia.
Fong insisted that there was a need to amend the ‘definition’ of Federation so that it is recognised by the constitution as Federation established under MA63.
“Since the constitution defined Merdeka Day as 31st August of 1957, there is also a need to have a definition for Malaysia Day which is 16 of September 1963,” he argued.
By doing that, there will be a constitutional recognition for Malaysia Day – which Sabahans and Sarawakians regard as the day Malaysia came into being, he said.
The second objective was to safeguard Sarawak’s legislative authority.
“In 1994, ‘ Tourism’, a residual power of the State was placed under the federal list without even prior consultation with the State.
“The Environment Quality Acts 1974 was passed by Parliament even though environment was a residual matter under the state,” he added.
To prevent any further erosion of the Sarawak’s legislative power, the federal constitution should be amended so that any amendment to the legislative list for Sabah and Sarawak cannot be passed by Parliament unless such amendment received consent of the Sarawak State Assembly.
The third objective involves Financial Autonomy, as under MA63, Sarawak was to have greater financial autonomy than peninsular states.
“That is why, Sarawak imposed the state sales tax, given special grants and had more federal revenue assigned to the State. However, the special grants have not been reviewed since 1974 and some items of assigned revenues such as import and export duties on petroleum products have not been received by Sarawak.
“Therefore it is of paramount importance that a financial review be carried out expeditiously and the issue of greater revenue from the oil and gas produced in Sarawak should also be resolved,” he stressed.
“In my view, even if the amendment bill was passed, unless we safeguard our legislative authority and financial autonomy, in reality we are no different from other states of Malaya,” he concluded.