Najib Razak’s government should propose an amendment to the Federal Constitutional at the next parliamentary sitting before GE14 in order to fulfil his words that “Sabah and Sarawak rights would be restored if mistakenly taken away by the Federal Government”.
In his concluding remarks at the UMNO General Assembly 2017, he has said that the rights accorded to Sabah and Sarawak under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) will be restored. According to him, “if there are any violations, federal government will restore it back to the people of Sabah”.
We don’t want lip service only. He should not think that by promising so, Sabahans would be pacified. DAP Sabah demands that Najib’ administration restore our rights accorded in MA63, by tabling Federal Constitutional Amendment at the next parliamentary sitting before the “father of all elections’ which would be expected in April or May 2018.
The proposed amendment is not new. DAP Sabah Chairman cum MP Sandakan, Stephen Wong has proposed his private member bill twice in 2016, but rejected by our fellow Sabahan Pandikar Amin, speaker of the Dewan Rakyat.
DAP Sabah is of the view that: –
First, there should be an amendment to the composition of the Federation as stated in Article 1(2), as follows:-
The Federal Constitution is amended by deleting the existing Article 1(2), and inserting in its place the following, new Article 1 (2) –
“(2) The Federation shall comprise of –
(a) The states of the Federation established under the Federation of Malaya Agreement 1957, namely, Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Pulau Pinang, Perak, Perlis, Selangor and Terengganu;
(b) Sabah; and
(c) Sarawak”
The purpose is to reflect the original spirit of the formation of Malaysia, where Sabah and Sarawak were meant to be the equal partners in formation of Federation of Malaysia.
Second, there should be an insertion of the definition of “Malaysia Day” into Article 160(2), as follows:-
The following shall be inserted into Article 160(2) of the Federal Constitution, immediately preceding the definition of the phrase “member of the administration” – “Malaysia Day” means the sixteenth day of September, nineteen hundred and sixty-three;”
It is embarrassing that until today, more than five decades after the formation of Malaysia, the Federal Constitution still does not have a definition of “Malaysia Day”.
Consequent to the above, there should be incorporation of the references to “Malaysia Day” in various places in the Federal Constitution.
Third, there should be an amendment to the definition of “the Federation” as follows:-
The Federal Constitution is amended by deleting the existing definition of “the Federation” in Article 160(2), and inserting in its place the following, new definition –
“the Federation” means
(a) in relation to any time after the coming into operation of the Federation of Malaya Agreement 1957, and before Malaysia Day, the Federation established under the Federation of Malaya Agreement 1957; and
(b) in relation to any time on and after Malaysia Day, the Federation established under the Malaysia Agreement 1963;”
As of now, the only Federation recognised by the Federal Constitution of Malaysia is only the 1957 Federation of Malaya. It is therefore not surprising that there are currently loud voices calling for the cessation of Sabah from Malaysia, because the legitimacy of the Federal Constitution itself seems doubtful, when applied to Sabah.
Hence, this historical embarrassment must be corrected without further delay, to remove all doubts about such legitimacy, in the interests of national unity.
This is to give real effect to the safeguards, assurances and undertakings given by MA63 itself, by allowing the courts of Malaysia to legally enforce the same in any legal action instituted by any individual citizen, to the extent that the Federal and/or Sabah governments still neglect or refuse to implement them.
Otherwise, the minimum protections given by MA63 would be rendered illusory.
We believe that the above are the minimum to be done to even reflect the spirit of MA63, let alone fully implementing it.
If Najib doesn’t know how to do it, DAP Sabah can help him.