A bill to amend the Sarawak Constitution, which was tabled and expected to be put to a vote today, was deferred due to an anomaly in its draft.
State Legislative Assembly speaker Datuk Amar Mohd Asfia Awang Nassar announced the deferment of the Constitution of the State of Sarawak (Amendment) Bill, 2020 to a date to be fixed later.
“There is an anomaly in the drafting of the bill and obviously, anomalies and definitions have to be addressed.
“In view of this and, in the matter of interpretation because this bill refers to Section 71 of the Immigration Act, 1959 and Section 71 further refers to Section 66. In view of this anomaly and clarifications and definitions to be made, I hereby defer this bill and this bill stands deferred to a date to be fixed,” he said.
The bill was earlier on tabled by Tourism, Arts, and Culture Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah to amend Article 16(2) to define the word “resident in the state” in accordance with Section 71 of the Immigration Act 1959/63 (Act 155).
The bill also sought to amend Section 71(1)(a) to lower the age criterion on those seeking to be elected into the State Legislative Assembly from 21 to 18 years old.
This proposed amendment is to be in line with the amended Section 5 of Part 1 of the Eighth Schedule to the Federal Constitution (FC), which was passed in Parliament on July 16 last year.
Six members of the august House debated on the bill. Among them were Chong Chieng Jen (DAP-Kota Sentosa), Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh (PSB-Bawang Assan), See Chee How (PSB-Batu Lintang) and Datuk Idris Buang (PBB-Muara Tuang).
The definition for the word “resident in the state” is not provided either in the Federal or in the State Constitutions.
Tabling the bill for the second reading, Karim said the amendment to incorporate the definition of ‘resident in the state’ was intended to clarify such qualification of ‘resident in the state’ within the confines of the state’s constitutional authority.
Debating the bill later, Chong and Wong had no objection to amending Article 16, Section 71 of the State Constitution that sought to lower the voting age from 21 to 18 years old.
They, however, strongly opposed the proposed amendment to Section 66, which they said, would allow West Malaysians or Sabahans to be elected as members of the DUN.
“The devil is in in the second part of the amendment which allows any West Malaysian or Sabahan having permanent resident (PR) status for two years to be eligible to be elected as a member of the DUN,” said Chong.
Wong said the term “resident in the state” was not defined in the Sarawak Constitution but it could be taken to mean someone who was always a resident here, not just for two years which was a negligible period.
