Stop arguments on amendment Bill that has been passed, opposition told
KUCHING: There is no need for members of the opposition to continue making all kinds of assumption to oppose an amendment Bill that has been passed in the State Legislative Assembly (DUN), said Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.
He said the new Bill that sought to amend Article 16 of the Sarawak Constitution and was passed by more than two thirds of members of the DUN was very complete.
He said the opposition cannot use hypothetical cases and make all sorts of assumption to imply that the Bill will open the door for non-Sarawakians to be elected as state assembly-persons.
“If they feel aggrieved and think that they do not have space to give their views, the best way to resolve it is to bring the case to court.
“I believe when the court decides whether a person qualifies or not, they will look
back at the intention of the Bill being tabled.
“The court may even revisit how the debate in DUN was run and see what was the intention of the government to table the Bill,” he said in a video uploaded to Facebook yesterday.
Abdul Karim said from the revisit, the court would know whether the Bill was passed to allow people who are not Sarawakians to stand for election or not.
He said because of that, there was no need for political parties, especially from the opposition side, to make all kinds of assumption to prove that the Bill that was already passed still had some defects or was incomplete.
He said the court, when it makes decision, will look at the overall, not just Article 16 but also the Immigration Act and other things pertaining to the rights of Sarawakians.
“Aside from that, we all know that Sarawakians will have ‘K’ and number ‘13’ in their identification card.
“All these will be raised in court but we can’t include all these details like ‘K’ or ‘13’ when we want to amend the ordinance otherwise it will be full of illustrations and become so long,” he said.
Abdul Karim said what was drafted by the State Attorney General was already sufficient to be tabled, adding that what was important was the intention.
“So there is no need to come up with all kinds of illustration like
Leila, Putri and etc.
“To me, all those are just their opinions to tarnish the government,” he said.
Abdul Karim said he was sad that Kota Sentosa assemblyman Chong Chieng Jen, Ba Kelalan assemblyman Baru Bian and Parti Sarawak Bersatu president Wong Soon Koh still harped on the issue, saying the Bill was incomplete.
He said their claim was not true, and was aimed at confusing the people to make them think that the amendment was a mistake and what the government had decided was not enough to stop non-Sarawakians from contesting in elections in the state.
“To me, that was just in their mind and their thoughts when actually in reality that is not the case and it will not happen.
“In my opinion, what they did was only for political reason, nothing to do with our rights,” he said.