See willing to re-table Referendum Bill in coming DUN sitting
KUCHING: Batu Lintang assemblyman See Chee How is more than willing to table a Referendum Bill, again, in the next State Legislative Assembly ( DUN) sitting, provided that the State Finance Minister supports the Bill.
The Parti Keadilan Rakyat ( PKR) lawmaker, who recalled having moved a Private Member’s Bill during the previous DUN sitting on May 12, 2017, said this in response to reactions from certain quarters that Sarawak should have a Referendum Ordinance following the Parliament’s failure to pass the amendment Bill to Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution to restore the rightful status of Sabah and Sarawak.
Speaking to See Hua Daily News on Wednesday, See said even if his proposal was not welcomed in the House, he would not mind supporting any similar Bill to be tabled by any member of the State Cabinet.
He believed that calls for a Referendum Ordinance in Sarawak arose due to the voting outcome in Parliament on April 9 that denied the Constitution Bill (Amendment 2019) the required two-thirds majority support.
He admitted that he had been approached by several individuals who were eager to find out whether he would re-table the Referendum Bill in the coming sitting scheduled for April 29 to May 9.
On the May 12, 2017 Bill, he said Speaker of the House Datuk Amar Mohd Asfia Awang Nassar rejected his proposal based on three grounds.
Before naming those grounds, he said the then Bill was struck out after being put to a vote, of which results showed only nine members voted in favour and 58 voted against it.
He said the nine votes all came from Pakatan Harapan ( PH) state lawmakers while DUN members of the then Barisan Nasional ( BN) – now Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) – voted against the Bill.
He said Asfia then ruled that only a State Cabinet member was eligible to table a Private Member’s Bill in the House.
Asfia also made it clear that should a Private Member’s Bill be moved by a non- Cabinet member, the proposer had to move the Bill under Standing Order 23( 5) in order to obtain the support of the Finance Minister, he said.
He added that Asfia also ruled that ‘referendum’ was not permitted under both the Federal Constitution and Sarawak State Constitution, which only permitted ‘election’ while both Parliament and DUN made decisions based on the rule of majority.
See said even though the Federal Constitution did not mention ‘referendum’, Item 9 and Item 10 under State List of the Federal Constitution granted Sarawak access to ‘ Inquiries for State purposes’.
Item 9 under State List of the Federal Constitution reads ‘Creation of offences in respect of any of the matters included in the State List or dealt with by State law, proof of State law and of things done thereunder, and proof of any matter for purposes of State law’ while Item 10 reads ‘ Inquiries for State purposes, including commissions of inquiry and collection of statistics with respect to any of the matters included in the State List or dealt with by State law.’
“When I moved that Private Member’s Bill then, I was seeking inquiry and collection of opinions from the people of Sarawak, which can serve as a reference to the Sarawak government in dealing with major issues,” he explained.
See stressed that only when the State Finance Minister nodded in approval could he be able to retable the Referendum Bill in the next DUN sitting.
He felt that if members from the other side could not bring themselves to support his Bill, he would not mind the GPS government tabling its own similar Bill.
“I am more than willing to support the Bill, if a member of the Sarawak Cabinet moves it in the coming DUN sitting,” he said.