Focus on BM interpretation of ‘Borneo States’ – Ng

KUCHING: The State Legislative Assembly ( DUN), as the lawmaking body of Sarawak, must debate the amendment to Article 1( 2) of the Federal Constitution, especially the Bahasa Malaysia interpretation of ‘Borneo States’.

Sarawak Association for People’s Aspiration ( Sapa) president Dominique Ng said lawmakers in the state need to pay serious attention on this issue, as ‘ State’ in English can mean ‘ nation’ while in Bahasa Malaysia, it is ‘negeri’ or ‘state’.

“I concur with Sapa founding president Lina Soo that the interpretation of ‘ Borneo States’, if translated into Bahasa Malaysia, should be ‘Negara’ and not ‘Negeri’.

“It is quite surprising that even MPs from Pakatan Harapan ( PH) have failed to point that out. We are not talking about a simple amendment to the Federal Constitution; we are talking about the amendment that will affect the status of Sarawak and Sabah as they were originally meant to be.

“To me, it is quite shameful to hear MPs from Sarawak and even Sabah supporting an amendment that actually goes

To me, it is quite shameful to hear MPs from Sarawak and even Sabah supporting an amendment that actually goes against the spirit of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), in the sense that they have failed to do a proper in-depth analysis of the amendment that the PH federal government was trying to do. Dominique Ng, Sapa president

against the spirit of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 ( MA63), in the sense that they have failed to do a proper in- depth analysis of the amendment that the PH federal government was trying to do,” he said yesterday in a press conference yesterday on the ‘ NEGARA Sarawak Rally’ planned by Sapa on April 28.

Ng, who is a lawyer and former Padungan assemblyman, stressed that Sapa was a politically-neutral entity who sought to defend ‘anything that affects the constitutional status of Sarawak’.

He stated his belief that PH lawmakers have ‘gotten it all wrong’, in that – as pointed out by Soo – ‘ negeri’ and ‘ negara’ in Bahasa Malaysia are two different things altogether.

“That is why for this rally, Sapa is talking about ‘ Negara Sarawak’ to emphasise this point to the people of Sarawak, who are now being confused by the hyperbole.

“The term ‘ State’ in English ought to be translated into Bahasa Malaysia as ‘Negara’. As the current generation of leaders, we must not repeat the mistakes made by our (then) leaders in 1976 and those in 1963.

“This is a chance to rectify our history and also rectify the constitutional status of Sarawak and Sabah. We cannot afford to make any more mistakes,” he asserted.

Among those present at the press conference were Soo, Sapa publicity and information chief Peter John Jaban and Sapa MA63 monitor secretary Alim Mideh.