KOTA KINABALU: Sabah opposition leader Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan has welcomed the Cabinet's decision to amend the Federal Constitution to restore Sabah and Sarawak as equal partners with Peninsular Malaysia.
However, he said that it was important that "corrected and updated wordings" were used in the amendments that would allow Sabah and Sarawak back as equal partners.
He suggested that the wordings of Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution should not be simply repeat the 1963 version prior to the 1976 amendments, but should be updated to reflect the true status of Sabah and Sarawak as truly equal partners.
Dr Jeffrey said that by correcting and updating the Constitution, the true status and size of the partners can be reflected more accurately.
"This situation also applies to the states in the peninsula, though many of their states are even smaller than many districts in Sabah and Sarawak," he added.
Dr Jeffrey, who is the president of Parti Solidariti Tanah AirKu (STAR), said that Keningau district alone was bigger than the size of Kedah, Melaka and Pulau Pinang combined.
He said the federal committee to review Sabah and Sarawak's rights under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 was scheduled to complete their tasks by July 2019, and all the proposed amendments could be tabled in a single amendment to the Federal Constitution in the October 2019 Parliamentary session.
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