KUCHING: Any bill that is going to be presented whether it is the new bill or amendment bill must be distributed to all Members of Parliament (MPs), said Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.
Abdul Karim said if a bill directly concerns Sarawak, as is the case of the proposed amendment bill to Article 1(2), the more reason that the draft should be made available to Sarawak MPs.
He is unhappy with Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii, who said the draft for the amendment to Article 1(2) would only be available during the first reading.
“Members of Parliament (MPs) should come out with at least a week before any amendments of the bills are tabled or debated and not to simply just come out with amendment,” he said.
“Most them (MPs) do not have any indepth knowledge of amendment, and to think they just simply come out like that is unimaginable… and some would just try to put those blame on Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) and all other members of the parties.
“He should let everyone know those are very important parts of our structure as these involve the rights of Sarawakians also the relationship between the state and federal authorities,” he added.
Karim also stressed that the bill does not bother whether we are GPS or Pakatan Harapan (PH); we must be united as what are written in Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) is very important part to the state.
“We want to see first the amendment… we don’t want to be played out… they (DAP) must have the desire to put Sarawak first,” he said.
