KUCHING: The proposed amendment to the Sarawak Constitution was deferred to a later date due to certain anomalies, said Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department (Law, State-Federal Relations and Project Monitoring), Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali.
She mentioned that the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) Speaker Datuk Amar Mohamad Asfia Awang Nassar made an Order to defer the proposed amendment following the term “resident in the State” under Article 16 of the constitution that needs to be defined and clarified.
“Today (Nov 10), we introduced a Bill to amend the Constitution of Sarawak. But due to certain anomalies on definition and wordings of certain phrases that needed to be fine-tuned, and in order to ensure no uncertainties or ambiguities in the said amendment, the Speaker made an Order to defer the said proposed amendment to another time (which is) to be determined later,” she said on a Facebook post after the DUN sitting.
She mentioned that the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) state government took note of the factors concerned and will proceed with the amendment at a later date.
“We in GPS, being a prudent government and putting the interest of Sarawak first, will proceed with such amendment, alas at a later date, so as to eliminate any uncertainties and/or ambiguities that may arise out of the amendment,” she said.
Earlier, the Bill was tabled by Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah which seeks to amend Article 16 of the State Constitution to lower the age qualification of persons to be elected as DUN member from 21 to 18.
The second amendment was on the phrase “resident in the State” to mean a citizen belonging to the state of Sarawak in accordance with Section 71 of the Immigration Act 1959/63.
While the opposition supported the amendment on the lowering of age, they strongly opposed on the second amendment of the Bill on the ground that such amendment will allow any West Malaysian or Sabahan to be elected as member of DUN.
