By Simon Peter
KUCHING, February 16, 2022 - Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development Minister Datuk Sri Karim Rahman Hamzah today rebuked the two DAP state assemblymen for ridiculing the “Premier” title accorded to Sarawak’s head of government under the amendment to State Constitution which was passed in the State Assembly yesterday.
Picture: Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development Minister Datuk Sri Karim Rahman Hamzah says Sarawakians should be happy with what the GPS government is doing“I find it to be not very good. If I can describe it as despicable for somebody to ridicule the efforts that we are trying to do,” he told reporters after the State Assembly has adjourned its three-day sitting.
“If we look deeply why we tabled the Sarawak Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2022, it is to put us up on a higher level.
“Sarawakians should be very happy with what we are doing.
“Unfortunately, we do have honourable members from the Opposition trying to ridicule the efforts that we are trying to do,” he said, without naming the Opposition State Assemblymen, but is believed to be referring to Pending State Assemblymen Violet Yong and Padungan State Assemblyman Chong Chieng Jen.
Karim, who tabled the Bill, said the GPS state government is trying to put up Sarawak on a higher status as compared to other states in Malaya.
He explained the other states are not the signatories to the formation of Malaysia.
“That is the reason why we have come with all this. We have studied the matter thoroughly; the implications and effects like that.
“What are the terms that we are going to use.
“That is why we don’t call the premier as the prime minister. We don’t want to have confrontation. “We respect the federal government. The premier title cannot supercede the prime minister, even though I know in social media a lot people are making comparison saying we got the prime minister. “No, we bring it down slightly lower. The premier title is higher than the title of the chief minister.
“If you want to see the structure in Australia, they’ve got the prime minister, the states in Australia have the premiers. Likewise in Canada, they have the prime minister and the states have the premiers.
“Here in Sarawak, unfortunately, people are ridiculing what we are trying to do.
“Belum apa apa, compared macam (premier) tissue while the other one said much ado about nothing.
“Well, we will see if it will up to be that way.
“But then, we are trying our level best to elevate Sarawak to a higher pedestal,” he said.
Asked if there are plans to define the status of Sarawak either as a state or region, he said there are admissions at the state and the federal levels, even by the federal and state political leaders, including the Opposition leaders like Lim Guan Eng, who used to say Sarawak cannot be at the same level with other states.
“If we look at the history, it is like that,” he said.
Karim said at the formation of Malaysia the signatories are the representatives from the federation of Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and United Kingdom.
“But after the formation of Malaysia, the signatories from Sarawak and Sabah regions were made on the same level with other states which were not the signatories to the Malaysia Agreement.
“It should have been objected in those days, but unfortunately it was not.
“Probably because we can understand in 1963 how many were professionals in Sarawak? How many lawyers? We’ve got so many MPs at that time who were illiterate and who were not able to argue on this and who might not able to understand the concept of Malaysia.
“But we do have the late Tun Jugah who came with a proverb “manis dipun, tabar diujung”.
They could see that.
“But they might not understand from the legal aspect,” he said.
Karim stressed Sarawak is not trying to go out from Malaysia.
“We love to be with Malaysia. We want to strengthen, but then we want to see those on the other side to understand us better, and we want to share the assets or resources equitably in accordance with the situation,” he added.
He said there are certain things that were agreed in the IGC (Inter-Governmental Committee) Report on the formation of Malaysia, but were not shared fairly, like the development fund that is supposed to be given every year.
“But what has happened over the last 50 years the (previous) federal government only gave RM16 million every year, then came the PH government that gave RM30 million to us.
“There must be some kind of mechanism how this amount comes about.
“That is the reason why we want to see how much money or resources have been taken from Sarawak every year and that is the reason why we want to have a representative inside the Inland Revenue Board.
“If we write to them, they will not want to give us because they will say this is privilege and you are not supposed to be getting it.
“We will know how much every year, if we sit on the board, it will be tabled and how much is from each state and then we will know.
“From Sarawak, how many billions, if they get RM10 billion, and we will get RM6 million, then it is not right.
“These are the things that we have been fighting for, even the amendment to the Sarawak constitution, are those little processes that we are doing, not with a view to get out of Malaysia, but to strengthen our position and also to get back those rights that have diminished over the years,” he said.
Asked if there will be more amendments to the State Constitution in future, Karim said there might be some more amendments or there might be some more negotiations with the federal government on the return of the state’s rights,
He said one is tourism.
He said when the MA63 was signed and stamped in 1963, nobody knew about tourism. It was not even discussed. The same goes with environment.
He said tourism was not on the Federal List or the State List then.
“Somehow in the early 1990s, a bill was quietly pushed in Parliament and if I am not mistaken, it was not debated to park tourism as a federal matter.
“Personally, I personally feel there is something wrong and when I questioned something like this, at that time the minister of tourism was not very happy.
“He got insulted because I raised it up,” he added.
Karim, who is a lawyer by profession, said under the law, if the subject matter is not on the Federal List nor on the State List, it is deemed to be on the Residual List.
He added the Residual List is a matter that comes under the state.
He said tourism should solely be on the State List and should not be a federal matter.
“But we are not that greedy. We want to negotiate. We were not even consulted when tourism was parked on the Federal List.
“We want to share. You take part of it, we take part of it.
“At least the funds to be given to the state will be much bigger,” he said.
Apart from tourism, he said the state government wants to look at the continental shelf.
“We cannot allow everything to be federal. The state must have some share.
“We are not trying to strengthen ourselves to get out.
“Our forefathers had wanted to be in Malaysia, we should fight to be in Malaysia. But then, we define the law properly and of course, we do not want to be placed on par with states like Perlis, Malacca or Penang.
“Not to say that we look down on them, but, of course, we were a party that formed Malaysia.
“I know some Malayan politicians may not be happy. I read on the social media of some of them asking what Sarawak was trying to do.
“But then after a while, they will be able to understand,” he said.
