KUCHING, February 16, 2022 - Sarawak People’s Aspiration Party (Aspirasi) president Lina Soo today welcomed the designation of Sarawak’s head of government from Chief Minister to Premier following the passing of the the Sarawak Constitution (Amendment) Bill by the State Assembly yesterday.
She said the renaming is good, though it would have been perfect if the renaming was from Chief Minister to Prime Minister directly.
“This constitutional amendment proves the sovereignty and sanctity of our 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,” she said in a statement when commenting on the passage of the bill.
“Explaining that English as the world’s lingua franca is an ambiguous language subject to context, interpretation and translation, it is not inappropriate to redesignate our head of government, to Premier,” Soo said.
She stressed having Premier as title for the Sarawak head of government to distinguish it from the heads of governments of the states of Malaya who are called Chief Ministers is a welcome move, to establish the fact that Sarawak is one of three nations in the federation, and not one of thirteen states with thirteen chief ministers.
She said the title of Chief Minister is the British colonial legacy where on July 22,1963, the new head of Sarawak government Tan Sri Stephen Kalong Ningkan should have been called Prime Minister instead of Chief Minister, as was Lee Kuan Yew called the Prime Minister of Singapore in 1959 who maintained his title within the federation of Malaysia.
“I would say this was an oversight on the part of the British government with regards to Sarawak,”she added.
She emphasised that the Sarawak government is still shy today for our head of government to carry the title of prime minister, unlike Singapore, but the move to premier is still better than none, and it should not be the last move.
“Sarawak’s birthright and status is of a sovereign nation from 1841, though its sovereignty was annexed by the British in 1946, and surrendered to the federation of Malaya renamed Malaysia in 1963, but the fact remains Sarawak’s national sovereignty is inviolable and sacrosanct which only awaits the will and determination of the Sarawak people for restoration and restitution.
“The new Sarawak Premier must carry the mandate of the people with powers above the Chief Minister of the other nine Malayan states.
“In foreign relations and diplomacy, Sarawak premier must be addressed as His Excellency on the international stage as the head of our Sarawak government,” she said.
Soo noted that it was the administration led by the Premier of Western Australia and the Premier of Quebec who gave their people the right to vote to choose their future in independence referendums in 1933 and 1995 respectively, and these governments have set the standards for Sarawak to emulate.
On whether the political move was against the Malaysia Agreement, Soo reminded that the Sarawak Assembly is the Sarawak Parliament where Parliament means a lawmaking assembly with the power to make and amend laws, and as the amendment had been formalised in the Sarawak Assembly with more than two-thirds majority, the legislation is carried and constituted.
Soo cited Article VIII of the Malaysia Agreement which stipulates that the Governments of the Federation of Malaya, North Borneo and Sarawak will take such legislative, executive or other action as may be required to implement the assurances, undertakings, and recommendations contained in Chapter 3 of, and Annexes A and B to, the Report of the Inter-Governmental Committee signed on February 27,1963, in so far as they are not implemented by express provision of the Constitution of Malaysia.
She said any inconsistency between the Federal and Sarawak Constitutions can be regularised as per Malaysia Agreement, when the Sarawak Government had constituted and legislated in DUN first.
“If the Sarawak government cannot legislate to right federal laws which are deemed unconstitutional to Sarawak, then Sarawak would be unable to reject the Petroleum Development Act 1974 and Territorial Sea Act 2012 which have robbed Sarawak of our oil resources and territorial integrity,” she stressed.
Soo called upon the Premier of Sarawak and government to table two motions to reject the Petroleum Development Act 1974 and Territorial Sea Act 2012, and powered by the Sarawak legislation to demand the federal government to amend both Acts to exclude Sarawak, in order to get back ownership and all economic rights over our oil and gas, and continental shelf.
“Its as simple as that,” she said.
“Let this change of name for our head of government to Sarawak Premier not be just purely cosmetic but to herald a meaningful and purposeful sequel for the people of Sarawak, to get back our oil, gas, taxes, marine fishes and sovereignty,” she concluded.
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