KUCHING: Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii is disappointed that Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) MPs chose to play politics over the interests of Sabah and Sarawak when they abstained from voting on the all-important amendments to Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution.
In a press statement issued on Thursday, Dr Yii said their excuse was that they did not reject the Bill but merely abstained from it.
“As we know in a constitutional amendment, a two-thirds majority or a minimum 148 votes is required for it to be passed.
“By choosing to abstain, it is as good as saying ‘no’ and rejecting the Bill as we will not have enough votes for it to be passed.
“As a result, we could have regained our rightful status in the federation but instead, we remain one of the 13 states,” he said.
“Some of the GPS politicians, including (Batang Sadong MP Datuk Seri) Nancy Shukri and (Sarawak United People’s Party president Datuk) Dr Sim Kui Hian had come out claiming that it was the arrogance of the government that made them vote against the Bill.
“This further proves that all that matters to GPS is to punish the government and push their political agenda through, even though it is at the expense of the people.
“They thought they were punishing the government, but instead they punished the people of Sabah and Sarawak. In the debates, they were adamant that the phrase ‘pursuant to the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63)’ had to be incorporated into Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution before they will agree to it.
“However, as many have pointed out, there is no need for this at all as the proposed amendments were the exact original words in MA63,” he said.
Dr Yii said by changing the original words of MA63 as proposed by GPS, they themselves had deviated from the original spirit of Article 1(2), “which was agreed upon by our forefathers.”
“On top of that based on the explanatory notes for the passing of the amendment, it is clearly stated that ‘this amendment is made in line with the spirit of the Malaysian Agreement concluded in 1963’,” he said.
He pointed out that GPS tried to downplay the importance of the explanatory notes, “but when there is a dispute as to the interpretation of any law, the courts will look through the explanatory notes which provide the clear and unequivocal language to determine the purpose and intention of the draftsmen.”
“Fact is, even in the constitution, there are multiple explanatory notes inserted to signify its significance in an understanding of law,” he explained.
The other excuse given, he added, was that they wanted to delay it further by pushing it to a Parliamentary Select Committee.
“However, they failed to understand that there is already a high-level Special Cabinet Committee which consists of the chief ministers of both state governments. The Steering Committee meets every two months and another Technical Committee then meets every month and they have had meetings since last year.
“The Prime Minister in his closing speech even offered to set up a Parliamentary Select Committee to monitor the implementation of MA63 after the discussion by the Special Cabinet Committee but yet that was not accepted by the opposition,” Dr Yii said.
“With this high-level committee already set up, and all those discussions ongoing, there is no reason or any excuse for the Bill to be delayed or even referred to a Parliament Select Committee that basically only consists of politicians that may not fully understand all the legal implications in the discussion.
“During the session, I stood up many times to fight for the Bill to not be delayed and to plead to them as a Sarawakian not to miss this chance.
“We have waited for so long, 43 years, but yet it is disappointing that they failed to put their political agenda aside. All PH and Warisan in Sabah stood their ground to support the amendment, including almost all of the Sabah Independent MPs who are not aligned with BN, PAS and Umno.
“Again, it shows GPS’ rejection was mainly political in nature and their act has not just denied Sarawak our rightful status, but also the aspirations of Sabahans to correct what was done to us in 1976,” he said.
