KUCHING, February 17, 2022 - Sarawak People’s Aspiration Party (Aspirasi) president Lina Soo agreed with Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Datuk Yong Teck Lee that the Sabah Yang di-Pertua Negeri title adopted in 1976 should be restored to its original wording.
She said it is an indisputable fact that in the Malaysia Agreement Annex B the Constitution of Sabah, Article 1(1) stipulates that the Head of State for Sabah shall be called the Yang di-Pertua Negara.
“This is supported by Article 5 of Annex A Malaysia Bill of Malaysia Agreement which defines the Governor as the Head of State, by whatever style known, in a State not having a Ruler and in particular includes the Yang di-Pertua Negara in Sabah and the Yang di-Pertuan Negara in Singapore,” she said.
Soo said that for former British colonies, the title of Governor is a British legacy handed down from the British Empire to appoint a local official or administrator to govern its colony by the imperial monarch who is the Queen of Britain.
She believed that in the age of democracy where the government is elected of the people for the people by the people, the term Governor should be discarded as it reeks of imperialism and decadence.
She proposed that the Governor of Sarawak as in Annex C Constitution of the State of Sarawak annexed to Malaysia Agreement be amended to Yang di-Pertuan Negara Sarawak.
In the furore over the renaming of Chief Minister of Sarawak to Premier, Soo said Article 5 of Annex A Malaysia Bill of the Malaysia Agreement defines Chief Minister and Menteri Besar both to mean the president , by whatever style known, of the Executive Council in a State and in particular Chief Minister includes the Prime Minister in Singapore.
By the qualification of “by whatever style known”, she believed it is constitutional for Sarawak through a 2/3 majority in the Sarawak Assembly to amend Chief Minister of Sarawak to Sarawak Premier and even to Prime Minister of Sarawak, precedent set by Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, as long as due constitutional process is carried through the Sarawak Assembly.
“Therefore there is no need for any Sarawak minister to be apologist over it, and the people of Sarawak should welcome this step because this proves the sanctity and sovereignty of our Sarawak legislative assembly established as Sarawak General Council on September 8, 1867 and is one of the oldest continuously functioning legislatures in the world, with the power to make and amend law.
“Our Sarawak Assembly, originally known as the Sarawak General Council, is our Sarawak Parliament where Parliament essentially and simply means a legislative assembly of elected lawmakers,” she said, stressing that she supports the renaming of the Sarawak Assembly to Sarawak Parliament and any word which applies to Sarawak as a Negeri should be expunged.
“This is because Sarawak is a nation in the federation of Malaysia as from our founding in 1841, we have an endemic population, a defined territory, a history, a culture and a government, and is not a ‘negeri’.
“Sarawak sovereignty with all intrinsic rights and powers must be guarded and protected with zeal, truth and integrity,” she stressed.
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