Tabling of MA63-linked Constitutional amendments delayed

KUALA LUMPUR: The second attempt to amend the Federal Constitution to be in line with the provisions of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) has been delayed in order for the Attorney General to provide further clarification to several ministers.

De facto Law Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the decision was made to ensure that the Bill would obtain full support of the Cabinet.

"Although the Cabinet has, in principle, agreed to the proposed Bill, there are several ministers who are seeking further clarification.

"So the Cabinet has decided that it would be best to set a new date to table the Bill after the briefing by the AG," he said in a statement on Monday (Oct 25).

The Bill to amend the Constitution was supposed to be tabled for first reading in the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday (Oct 26).

Wan Junaidi said the new date for the tabling of the Bill for first reading would be fixed after the AG briefed the Cabinet on Friday (Oct 29).

He also said the ministers could not reach a consensus on Sunday (Oct 24) during an engagement session that was attended by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

"We could not reach a consensus on the proposed amendments to some of the relevant articles in the Federal Constitution," he said.

On Oct 18, the Special Council on Malaysia Agreement 1963, chaired by Ismail Sabri, had agreed to the proposal brought by Wan Junaidi to redefine certain provisions in the Constitution within the context of MA63.

The first attempt in 2019 to amend the Constitution to be in line with the provisions of MA63 failed to get two-thirds majority support in Parliament during the former Pakatan Harapan administration.

Pakatan only managed to secure 138 votes with 59 MPs abstaining, including Gabungan Parti Sarawak's 18 MPs.