Fong: Amendment Bill must include the term ‘equal status’
KUCHING: State Legal Counsel Dato Sri JC Fong says the Bill to amend Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution needs to include the term ‘equal status’ to reflect the call of the negotiating parties Sarawak and Sabah.
According to him, the term is important to give the amended provision certainty so that the supreme law on that matter can be easily interpreted by any court of law.
“The term ‘equal status’ must be mentioned in the Federal Constitution because the court of law has no authority to add any word to the (existing) law or article of the Federal Constitution.
“Therefore, ‘equal status’ must be expressly stated in Article 1(2),” he said when met at his office at the State Legislative Assembly Complex in Petra Jaya, here yesterday.
Fong said he found it ‘perplexing’ that politicians debating the Bill did not see the importance of adding the term in the Bill.
He also queried as to why was it difficult to include the term in the amendment Bill, which is aimed to restore the status of Sarawak and Sabah as regions or territories equal to Peninsular Malaysia.
“If the term ‘equal’ appears in Article 121 of the Federal Constitution when referring to the two High Courts – High Court of Malaya and High Court of Sabah and Sarawak – I cannot see the reason why the term could not appear anywhere else in the Federal Constitution,” he said.
When asked if the term was intentionally omitted, Fong said he did not want to speculate on the matter.
“For instance, Article 121 expressly states that the High Court of Malaya and High Court of Borneo (now Sabah and Sarawak) are the same or equal. If these two High Courts can be said to be the same, there is no reason why the two regions, namely Federation of States in Malaya and the two Bornean states, cannot also have an equal status in the constitution,” he argued.
He added that no matter how people try to spin it, there is a ‘glaring shortcoming’ in the proposed amendment as there is nothing in the proposed amendment akin to Article 121, to expressly state that Sarawak and Sabah are of equal status to Peninsular Malaysia.
Fong also pointed out that in the Federal Constitution, there is no recognition of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
“It is important for MA63 to be recognised by the supreme law so that henceforth, any discussion to restore or reclaim the rights of Sabah and Sarawak can be conducted under a document which the Federal Constitution recognises.
“With this put in place, the position of Sabah and Sarawak will be strengthened if discussions are held using a constitutionally-backed document, which is the MA63,” he stressed.
Fong said he hoped all Sarawakians consider the proposed amendment rationally for the sake of the betterment of the current and future generation of Sarawakians.
He also said he hopes for the amendment Bill to be deferred to another date to allow more consultation with stakeholders.
“We must carefully study it (amendment Bill) in order to meet the aspirations of the people of Sabah and Sarawak, which is for the two to be equal partners with Peninsular Malaysia.”
Source: The Borneo Post
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