Amendment to Article 1(2)
KUCHING: Sarawak should be very cautious regarding the amendment to Article 1(2), especially the part on financial implications, said Padawan Municipal Council (MPP) chairman Lo Khere Chiang.
He pointed out that the part on financial implications under Article 1(2), reads, “This Bill will involve the government in extra financial expenditure the amount of which cannot at present be ascertained.”
He noted that the federal government has been saying that Malaysia had a RM1 trillion debt.
The Batu Kitang assemblyman questioned, with regard to equal status and the financial implications mentioned, if Sarawak was expected to be responsible for this debt as well.
“Does it mean we have to shoulder the RM1 trillion debt?” he asked during a press conference at MPP yesterday.
Lo said that Sarawak has been giving RM92 billion per year to the federal government, adding, “Is it not ludicrous to also have to pay for the debts that Malaya incurred?”
He voiced his support for Batang Sadong MP Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri’s recent statement that there was no point to re-table Article 1(2) amendment of the Federal Constitution if nothing had been changed.
He also questioned how Sarawak could sign for anything that ‘cannot at present be ascertained’. “Let us all be united as one under Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) in our quest to pursue our rights as enshrined under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63),” he urged.
