KUCHING: Don’t confuse the word ‘wilayah’ (region) with that of ‘wilayah persekutuan’ (federal territory), said Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.
The Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister, a lawyer by profession, pointed out that certain quarters were confused by the words.
“I know a certain politician argued that using the term “wilayah” might reduce Sarawak’s position to smaller than a state.
“Well, ask him to study Bahasa Malaysia-lah. Look into the terminologies because there is a big difference between ‘wilayah’ and ‘wilayah persekutuan’,” he said.
Karim pointed this out at a press conference after chairing the 2021 Sarawak Youth Development Committee Meeting held at Waterfront Hotel here today (April 8).
On April 1, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin openly referred to Sarawak as a ‘region’ instead of a state, thereby recognising Sarawak as one of the three regions of Malaysia as enshrined in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
Karim fully agreed to change Sarawak’s status as a ‘wilayah’ but insisted that the Federal Constitution must be amended beforehand to incorporate Sabah and Sarawak as regions and not states.
He said it would allow a clear interpretation of Sabah and Sarawak as two out of three regions that formed Malaysia and not states similar to other states in Malaya.
Karim added the term ‘wilayuh’ — whether it referred to a region or territory— did not matter much as long as it distinctively differentiated Sarawak from other states in Malaya.
“We look at the Federation of Malaya as one region which is equal to Sabah and Sarawak. Therefore, it is a confederation of three regions,” he reiterated.
