GPS wants to study proposed amendment first

KUCHING: Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) wants to study the proposed amendment to the Federal Constitution on restoring Sarawak and Sabah’s status as equal partners with Peninsular Malaysia before supporting it in Parliament.

Assistant Minister of Law, State-Federal Relations and Project Monitoring, Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali, said in principle GPS would support amendments that were good for Sarawak, Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia.

“That said, we will have to look at the proposed amendment before we can comment further because at the moment it’s just a statement from the minister,” she said.

“In the end, what we want is our rights under the Malaysia Agreement to be returned to us.”

She was responding to de facto law minister Datuk Liew Vui Keong’s announcement on Monday night that the government would amend Article 1(2) to restore Sarawak and Sabah’s status as equal partners with Peninsular Malaysia.

Liew had said the amendment, set to be tabled in the coming Parliament sitting which starts next week, required the support of opposition MPs in order to meet the twothirds majority needed to pass it.

GPS, a state-based coalition formed by Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) after quitting Barisan Nasional in June, has 19 MPs.

PBB’s Santubong MP Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the proposed amendment to Article 1(2) was a good move which would duly recognise Sarawak and Sabah as equal partners.

However, he said the government should also study whether other parts of the Constitution contradicted the Malaysia Agreement and required amending.

“If other Articles need to be amended, it should all be done in one go with Article 1(2) to restore the status of Sarawak and Sabah,” he said.

Wan Junaidi added that the amendment to Article 1(2) should not be mixed up with proposed constitutional amendments on unrelated matters.

Liew had also said that an amendment to Article 125 to raise judges’ retirement age to 70 years would be tabled in Parliament together with the amendment to Article 1(2).

“I support the proposal to increase the retirement age of judges. But do the amendment separately. Don’t ride on our support for the Sarawak and Sabah issue.

“On other matters, we will look at it based on its merits,” Wan Junaidi said.