KUCHING: April 9, 2019 will stand as a blot in the history of Sarawak as a day that an attempt for constitutional amendment in the Parliament has failed to restore Sarawak’s position as an equal partner in the formation of Malaysia, in accordance with the spirits of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), said Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Sarawak vice-chairman See Chee How.
See, who is Batu Lintang assemblyman, also said that the date will be remembered as the darkest day of Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) of which the state ruling coalition partners had failed to defend the rights of Sarawak and Sarawakians when they chose not to vote for the constitutional amendment of Article 1(2) in Parliament, and hence chastising Sarawak to remain as a mere state amongst the 13 States of the Federation of Malaysia.
“And this day will haunt the 19 GPS MPs for the rest of their lives if there is no more opportunity that may come their way to redeem themselves to vote for the restoration of Sarawak as an equal partner in the Federation of Malaysia,” See said in a press statement today.
According to him, the proposed constitutional amendment bill had sought to amend Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution, in the words of the explanatory note and which were repeatedly emphasised by the many Pakatan Harapan MPs who had participated in the debate, that it was to restore Sarawak’s position as an equal partner in the formation of Malaysia, in the spirit of MA63 and in accordance with the majority wishes of Sarawakians and Sabahans.
“All those who have attended the sitting and followed the proceedings of the debate were heartened with the affirmation of the Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and many West Malaysian Pakatan Harapan lawmakers that Sarawak and Sabah are not mere states like those West Malaysian States such as Perlis, Penang or Pahang, but that Sarawak and Sabah are equal partners with the Federation of Malaya as a whole, when they came together to form the Federation of Malaysia.
“Therefore, the Prime Minister and the PH MPs were in unison in their arguments that the 1976 constitutional amendment to Article 1(2) had wrongly relegated or consigned Sarawak and Sabah to be mere states amongst the 13 states in the Federation of Malaysia, and that injustice has been inflicted on Sarawak, Sabah and their people for the last 43 years.
“Indeed, to right the wrong of the last 43 years has been the aspiration and wishes of all Sarawakians and Sabahans, and they have been eagerly waiting for the outcome of the amendment, hoping that the politicians will discard their political and party differences to put it right for Sarawak and Sabah.”
Therefore, See said it is most unfortunate that it was the 19 MPs of GPS Sarawak who had chosen not to vote in favour of the amendment and thereby causing the effort of this constitutional amendment to fail.
“The 138 votes of the PH and all Sabahan opposition MPs fell short of 10 votes to achieve the two-thirds votes needed to pass the constitutional amendment.”
See said: “This seems so unreal and weird to me, that any Sarawakian MP would choose not to respect the Sarawakian aspiration and hope for the restoration of Sarawak as an equal partner in the formation.
“As elected representatives, and many of them are highly educated, they should know well that their abstaining to vote would cause the amendment bill to fail, and thus condemning Sarawak to remain in the position as a mere state in the 13 States of the Federation.
“And the MPs who were abstaining from voting, aside from GPS, were the Malayan MPs aligned to Umno and PAS. The perception of an unsavory association between the GPS with PAS and Umno with the question whether the GPS is now forging a political alliance with Umno and PAS is certain to cost the GPS dearly in the coming state election.”
See said he remained hopeful that the PH federal government would continue their endeavours to restore the rightful position of Sarawak and Sabah under the MA63, through the ongoing federal cabinet committee efforts undertaken by the MA63 Steering Committee.
“The Pakatan Harapan’s commitments to return all that Sarawakians and Sabahans deserved under the Federal Constitution, the assurances and promises of the country’s founding fathers will certainly not be deterred by this unsuccessful attempt for constitutional amendment.”
Source : Borneo Post
Indie Borneo 