‘Need to update definition of natives in Federal Constitution’
KUCHING: The definition of Natives of Sarawak in the Federal Constitution has always been a concern for the state as the current definition does not accurately reflect the numerous different races of its native population, said Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali.
O en, apart from the Malays, Chinese and Dayaks, the rest of the natives would be conveniently categorised as ‘Others’ or ‘Lain-lain’, said the Assistant Minister of Law, StateFederal Relations and Project Monitoring.
“To remedy this situation, we have proposed that the definition of natives be updated to reflect the numerous different races of the natives. Obviously due to the number of different races in the state, coming up with an exhaustive list itself represents a daunting task.
“Hence, the assistance of the
Majlis Adat Istiadat was obtained in our a empts to come up with a list that is as specific and as complete as possible to ensure no native of Sarawak feels le out,” she said in a press statement yesterday.
This issue is among those which Sarawak is hoping the current Parliament session and federal cabinet should look to resolve. The others include amendments to Article 1(2) and Article 160(2) of the Federal Constitution.
Sharifah Hasidah also pointed out that these two years have been challenging due to the Covid-19 pandemic which has engulfed not only Malaysia but the whole world.
In spite of these challenges, she said the state has remained steadfast in its efforts to reclaim any and all rights eroded.
“The current Federation was established pursuant to the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) of which Singapore, Sabah, Sarawak and the then Federation of Malaya were signatories to.
“The importance of the MA63 to the formation of Malaysia demands that the agreement be recognised in the Federal Constitution as such and the Sarawak government will be unrelenting in the pursuit of this objective,” she said.
Consequently, she said the Sarawak government had proposed that certain amendments be made to the Federal Constitution.
“Firstly, Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution needs to be amended to accurately describe the components of the new Federation in accordance with the aspiration and spirit of our forefathers when they entered into the agreement 58 years ago.
“Secondly, we have proposed that Article 160(2) of the Federal Constitution be amended to emphasise that the Federation of Malaysia was indeed established pursuant to the 1963 Agreement and not the 1957 Agreement of which Sarawak and Sabah were not parties to.
“We have also proposed that the special grants be reviewed in accordance with the Federal Constitution,” she said.
The Sarawak government, she added, has submi ed the state’s views on how the review process should be done as provided for in Article 112D of the Federal Constitution.
This is to ensure that subsequent revisions or reviews will be based on the same principles and factors, she pointed out.
“It is our fervent hope that these amendments be tabled and passed in this Parliamentary session so that we can move on and continue to drive the government’s agenda of nation building for a be er Malaysia,” said Sharifah Hasidah.