KUCHING: The proposed renaming of the Sarawak chief minister's post to "Premier" is part of the state's efforts to regain its rights under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), says Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.
The state Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Minister said Sarawak should not be seen as equal with states like Penang and Melaka, which also have chief ministers heading their state governments.
He said this was because Sarawak was one of the signatories of MA63 during the formation of Malaysia, along with Britain, Singapore, the Federation of Malaya and Sabah.
"The renaming of the chief minister's post to 'Premier' is to fine-tune the situation. I don't think we would want to be on par with Penang or Melaka.
"When we formed Malaysia, there was only one signatory representing the federated and unfederated Malay states (in the Federation of Malaya)," Karim told reporters after the swearing-in ceremony of elected representatives at the state legislative assembly here on Monday (Feb 14).
He said the constitutional amendment Bill to rename the chief minister's post would put Sarawak's status as an equal partner in Malaysia in the right perspective.
Asked whether Sarawak would be called a region should the amendment be approved, he said this would be discussed later.
"We'll reach that part when the Bill has been tabled," he said.
Karim is scheduled to table the Constitution of the State of Sarawak (Amendment) Bill 2022 on Tuesday (Feb 15), which proposes amending Article 6(3) by substituting the words "Chief Minister" with "Premier" and Article 44 to include the interpretation of Premier as "the Chief Minister appointed under Article 6(3).
It also seeks to amend Article 7A to rename assistant ministers as deputy ministers.
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