Lawyer: Proposed amendment to honour MA63 'just playing with sentence construction'

SIBU: A senior lawyer has claimed that there is no difference between the 1976 version and the proposed amended version of Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution to honour the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) in Parliament.

The bill to amend Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution was tabled in Parliament by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Liew Vui Keong on Thursday (April 4).

Lawyer, Robert Lau Hui Yew on Friday (April 5) said the proposed version "is just playing with the construction of a sentence."

"The proposed version just splits the 1976 version into two parts - (a) and (b). It is still in one sentence. There is no explanation or clarification as to why there is two parts - (a) and (b)," he added.

Lau, who had been giving talks on the MA63 matter, reckoned that a very simple amendment will look like this:

"(2) The States of the Federation shall consist of: (a) the Federation of Malaya (which consist of the eleven states in the Federation of Malaya); (b) the State of Sarawak; and (c) the State of Sabah. These three States shall form the Federation of Malaysia," he said.

In 1963, the Federation of Malaysia was formed by four different Territories, namely the Federation of Malaya (consisting of 11 states), the State of Sarawak, the State of North Borneo and the State of Singapore.

These were the 4 signatories to the Agreement in 1963. The other signatory was United Kingdom, acting as the colonial master of the states of Sarawak, North Borneo and Singapore.

The amendment to Art 1(2) in 1976, he pointed out the federation to be made of 13 states and the federal territories. That had the effect of doing away with the federation of Malaysia, as envisaged in 1963, and to assimilate the two States of Borneo into the federation of Malaya, but calling it Malaysia.

"After 43 years, Parliament is having another go, and I have just read the proposed amendments.

"It should have been a very simple exercise, and yet the drafters are trying to confuse and hold on to the assimilated nature of Malaya in the guise of Malaysia," he said.

Lau claimed what the PH government was trying to do was to still try to hold on to Sarawak and Sabah as one of 13 states and to assimilate (by a take-over) Sarawak and Sabah into Malaya.

He said the MP of Sibu should vote against this proposal and put forward an amendment in the manner he had provided above.