No change in status of Sarawak as state until constitutional amendment made — Chong
The constitutional status of Sarawak will not change from a state to a wilayah (territory) just because Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has recently declared Sarawak a wilayah, pointed out state Democratic Action Party (DAP) chairman Chong Chieng Jen.
The Stampin MP and Kota Sentosa assemblyman said what the prime minister declared had no constitutional effect until a constitutional amendment took place.
“The original Federal Constitution in 1963 provided that the Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak were of equal footing as the states of Malaya. But after the 1976 constitutional amendment, instead of being two separate territories, Sarawak and Sabah became two of the 13 states.
“Recently Muhyiddin came to Sarawak and called Sarawak a wilayah and so GPS (Gabungan Parti Sarawak) government became very happy. But are we a wilayah or not? We have to go back to our Federal Constitution, Muhyiddin as a prime minister cannot just call Sarawak a wilayah in a state gathering and overrule the Federal Constitution, which is the supreme law that created Malaysia as a country,” he said during his Facebook Live session yesterday.
Chong reminded all that the former Pakatan Harapan (PH) government tabled a constitutional amendment bill to Article 1(2) in April 2019 to restore the original status of Sarawak and Sabah in 1963.
To pass the bill, he said a twothirds majority was required but the GPS MPs did not support the amendment.
“You need at least 148 MPs supporting the constitutional amendment to get it through. On April 9, 2019, PH tabled the bill and had 138 MPs in Parliament, we were short of 10 MPs and GPS had 18 MPs at that time.
“We all approached GPS MPs but they refused to support the bill. In the end, the bill was rejected after 59 MPs refused to vote. Refusing to vote is equivalent to no vote, as the bill didn’t get through and the status of Sarawak and Sabah was not restored to the 1963 position, so we remain as one of the states in Malaysia,” he stressed.
Given this, Chong said he was amused by GPS leaders who had applauded Muhyiddin for declaring Sarawak a wilayah.
Without a constitutional amendment, he said Sarawak remained a state and what the prime minister had declared had no constitutional effect.
He stressed that the state elected representatives in Sarawak were still called ADUN, which is Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri (State Legislative Assembly Member), and not ADUW (Ahli Dewan Undangan Wilayah).
As such, he challenged the government of the day to convene Parliament to amend the Constitution to restore the status of Sarawak and Sabah.
Chong, who is also national DAP vice chairman, said all the 42 DAP MPs would give their undivided support to the federal government should a constitutional amendment to Article 1(2) be tabled in Parliament.
“We are still a negeri (state) until we change the Constitution. To change the Constitution, you need to convene the Parliament to table a bill to restore the status back in 1963. PN (Perikatan Nasional) has 112 MPs and DAP has 42 MPs, we will get through. So convene Parliament and amend the Constitution rather than Muhyiddin talk, talk and talk only,” he added.