Sarawak's head of government should be named prime minister, not premier, argues PBK president

KUCHING, February 14, 2022 - Replacing the term “Chief Minister” with “Premier” for 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 today.

Picture: PBK president says alien to refer head of government as premier

He said the most appropriate term should be “Prime Minister” which is consistent with what Singapore had done when it was part of the Federation of Malaysia.

“(Head of government) Lee Kuan Yew was addressed as Prime Minister of Singapore,” Voon said when commenting on the proposed change of the term from chief minister to premier under the Sarawak Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2022 to be tabled in the State Assembly tomorrow.

He said both the federal and Sarawak constitutions should recognise Sabah and Sarawak as countries and their heads of state be addressed as Yang Di-Pertuan Negara, not Yang Di-Pertua Negeri.

“This will put Sabah and Sarawak to the position before 1976,” he said, referring to the amendment to the Federal Constitution that downgraded the status of Sarawak and Sabah as among the states in Malaysia.

On the proposed amendment to the definition of “the Federation” under Article 44 of the State Constitution, Voon argued that it has led to acknowledgment by the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) government that Sarawak is 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. It states that by this Malaysia Agreement 1963 Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak were federated with the Federation of Malaya.

“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 asserted.

Voon said in the United Nations, record exists to show that the Federation of Malaysia indeed refers to the Federation of Malaya, adding that it was a change of name only from Malaya to Malaysia. “Therefore, Malaysia is Malaya and Malaya is Malaysia. This advice of change of name was made by Dato Ong Yoke Lin, the Permanent Secretary to the United Nations from the Federation of Malaya, in a letter addressed to the United Nations on 16 September, 1963,” he said.

“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 a pen with the help of the United Kingdom.

“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 said.