KUCHING: The word ‘Premier’ in the proposed Constitution of the State of Sarawak (Amendment) Bill, 2022 to replace ‘Chief Minister’ as Sarawak’s head of government is not appropriate and an alien title in any democratic country.
Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) president Voon Lee Shan said the most appropriate term should be ‘Prime Minister’ and it would be consistent with what Singapore did when it was part of Malaysia.
He pointed out that both the Federal and Sarawak constitutions should recognise Sabah and Sarawak as countries and their Heads of State to be addressed as Yang di-Pertuan Negara not Yang di-Pertua Negeri.
“This will put Sabah and Sarawak to their position before 1976,” he said.
The Constitution of the State of Sarawak (Amendment) Bill will be tabled by Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Hazmah, Minister for Tourism, Creative Industry, and Performing Arts, and Minister for Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development, with the second and third reading on Feb 15.
On the proposed amendment to Article 44 of Sarawak Constitution, he opined that it would lead to acknowledgment by the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) government that Sarawak was indeed a colony of Malaya.
“This also shows that the analysis by many politicians and lawyers that Sarawak is a colony of Malaya should not be put to doubt anymore. By referring ‘the Federation’ as the Federation that was first established under the Federation of Malaya Agreement 1957 clearly refers to Malaya.
“The amendment refers to the signing of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) and it states that by this agreement Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak were federated with the Federation of Malaysia. The federation was called the Federation of Malaysia and GPS government should be aware that Federation of Malaysia refers to the Federation of Malaya,” he said.
Voon stated that in the United Nations (UN), record exists to show that the Federation of Malaysia indeed refers to the Federation of Malaya and it was only a change of name from Malaya to Malaysia.
“Therefore, Malaysia is Malaya and Malaya is Malaysia. The advice on change of name was made by permanent secretary to the UN from the Federation of Malaya Datuk Ong Yoke Lin in a letter addressed to the UN on Sept 16 in 1963.
“Although the word ‘federated’ is used but in political sense Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak were taken by Malaya to enlarge the territories of Malaya by a stroke of pen with the help of the United Kingdom,” he said.
He also said that in a book it was stated that Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak were a gift to Malaya from the British.
“This ‘gift’ was a ‘political coup’ engineered by Tunku Abdul Rahman with the help of the British. For this reason, parliament and most cabinet post in the Federal government are controlled by Malaya,” he added.
