KUCHING: The State Consultative Committee on Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) will support any amendment to the Federal Constitution or any law for that matter if it is convinced that it contains a substantive improvement to the rights and interest of the state and not merely for the purpose of window-dressing.
Having said this, its chairman Datuk Amar Mohd Asfia Awang Nassar, who is also State Legislative Assembly speaker, said the committee reserves its comments for now on the proposed amendment announced by the Law Minister Datuk Liew View Kiong until after the proposed bill has been sighted by members of the committee.
On March 8, Liew said that the Federal Cabinet had agreed to amend Article 1 (2) of the Federal Constitution to restore the status of Sabah and Sarawak as equal partners of Malaya.
Liew was quoted as saying that the decision to amend the constitution was reached at the Cabinet meeting on March 6 and was indeed a major step towards the implementation and compliance of the MA63.
“The amendment to the Federal Constitution will be tabled at the next Parliament session scheduled to begin on March 11 and it will need two-thirds majority support to be passed,” he was further quoted.
Asfia said until now the State Consultative Committee has not seen the bill.
“We only got to know about it from Liew through the press. Liew said it would be tabled on March 11; the first reading April 3 and second reading on April 9. But, until today, we have not seen the bill.
“So for the moment, the consultative committee is reserving its comments on the matter until after the proposed bill has been sighted by members of the committee,” he said in a press statement after a meeting of the State Consultative Committee chaired by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg here yesterday.
Asfia said the meeting served as an update on the status of the MA63 discussions and to consult the committee as mandated by the DUN.
“Among the pertinent issues discussed was the announcement by the Federal Minister for Law on the proposal to amend Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution. The two-hour meeting was attended by all three deputy chief ministers and members of the committee,” he added.
Asfia said at the meeting, members of the committee were also told that the issues being discussed by the MA63 committees (national) were progressing well although no final decision has been made on those issues.
“So, we would be prepared to wait and be updated further in accordance with the schedule already agreed by the Federal Steering Committee. As the discussions have been classified as ‘Secret’, we are not at liberty to divulge the contents of those discussions at this moment.
“Rest assured that come the time when the report of the committees has been finalised, we will disclose more to the public,” he assured.
Earlier,Asfia said that since the last Consultative Committee Meeting, the Federal Cabinet Steering Committee, in which Abang Johari led on behalf of the state, had held another meeting on March 5.
Prior to this date, several other meetings were held by the various committees, including the Technical Committee, the Working Committee and the various clusters.
