KUCHING, February 15, 2022 - The Sarawak Constitution (Amendment) Bill secured the two-thirds support of the total number of state assemblymen on the second round of voting for the bill to become law.
On the first round, only 54 state assemblymen supported the bill and six opposed it.
After Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Datuk Sri Karim Rahman Hamzah had completed his winding up on the debate, a vote by way of a show of hands was held, only 53 state assemblymen voted in favour of the amendment while six opposed it.
Chong Chieng Jen (DAP-Padungan) then stood up and said the amendment bill cannot be passed as it failed to get the support of the two-thirds of the total number of the state assemblymen.
The Speaker Tan Sri Asfia Awang Nasar then said another state assemblyman had just come in to make the total 54, which is still one short of the two-thirds.
Chong said even at 54, it is still not two-thirds of the total number of the state assemblymen and therefore, the bill failed to pass through.
The Speaker then asked the state assembly secretary to ring the bell for five minutes.
Bawang Assan state assemblyman Datuk Sri Wong Soon Koh said it is improper to call for another round of voting, saying that it will create a bad precedent.
The Speaker then said 10 state assemblymen were not in the chamber at the voting time while four others were granted leave of absence from attending the sitting.
After the bell was rung and votes taken, the Speaker announced that 67 state assemblymen supported the bill and six opposed it.
Winding up the debate, Karim said the spirit of the amendment is what matters most.
“The bigger picture behind the amendment to emphasise and to cement the difference and status enjoyed by Sarawak as compared to other states in the federation of Malaya.
“In the formation of Malaysia, there is no clear distinction between Sarawak and other states to reflect the status of Sarawak.
“Consequently, Sarawak has been given the same treatment as other states leading to erosion of Sarawak’s rights of which the GPS is trying to recover,” he said.
Twelve state assemblymen took part in the debate.
Earlier, Karim said the amendment to the State Constitution is to give full effect to the recent amendment of the Federal Constitution.
“The recent amendments to the Federal Constitution restores the spirit originally contemplated by the parties to the Malaysia Agreement, 1963 (MA63) and that is, when Sarawak agreed to be a party in the formation of Malaysia, it was intended that Sarawak retain its status as one of the three regions (Federation of Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak) that formed the new Federation of Malaysia.
“This put Sarawak as one of the three regions and is to be regarded not with the same status as the other component States in the Federation of Malaya.
“The special status of Sarawak needs to be reflected in the manner different from other States in the Federation.
“As practised in other Commonwealth regions assuming similar set up with Malaysia including Australia and Canada, the Head of the Federation is styled as Prime Minister and Heads of Regions constituting the Federation is styled as Premier while the other sub-regions or states are headed by Chief Ministers.
“Therefore, to correctly reflect the status of Sarawak as different from the other States in the Federation, it is proposed that the designation and style of Chief Minister be re-styled to Premier,” he said.
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