Datuk Sharidah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali said the state government had also proposed Article 160(2) of the Federal Constitution be amended to change the definition of ‘The Federation’. – File photo
KUCHING (Aug 13): The Sarawak government has proposed to Putrajaya to insert the definition of Malaysia Day into the Federal Constitution, said Datuk Sharidah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali.
The Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department (Law, State-Federal Relations and Project Monitoring) said the state government had also proposed Article 160(2) of the Federal Constitution be amended to change the definition of ‘The Federation’.
A clause under Article 160(2) of the Federal Constitution reads: ‘The Federation means the Federation established under the Federation of Malaya Agreement 1957’.
“We have proposed to the federal government and Parliament, for them to insert the definition of Malaysia Day. In order to amend the Federal Constitution, we need the two-thirds (vote) majority,” she said in a question-and-answer session during a virtual seminar yesterday.
The ‘Navigating the Impacts of The Malaysia Agreement 1963 on National Integrity’ seminar was hosted by the Sarawak Unity Foundation (YPS) on Facebook.
Sharifah Hasidah, however, said given the country’s current political scenario, it was “rather impossible” to see a two-thirds vote majority happening in the Dewan Rakyat.
“But we have forwarded our proposed amendment to the federal government and the Attorney-General’s Chambers,” she added.
Malaysia Day, celebrated on Sept 16, has been a national public holiday since 2010.
Responding to another question, Sharifah Hasidah conceded that it would not be easy for Sarawak to reclaim its rights which had been eroded over the years.
She said such legal defects had been embedded in the country’s history, laws and the Federal Constitution since the formation of Malaysia in 1963.
“So it’s not going to be easy to rectify everything especially when we’re talking about amending the Federal Constitution,” she said, while asserting that the Federal Constitution had to be amended in such a way that it could support the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
At present, the assistant minister said the words ‘Malaysia Agreement 1963’ cannot even be found in the Federal Constitution.
“That’s why we are proposing the amendment to the Federal Constitution, that the words ‘Malaysia Agreement 1963’ must be defined in it. We will keep on pushing for the amendment to reflect the reality of MA63. It’s not going to be easy.
“It’s going to be tough but we will pursue it. It’s not impossible, (but) we need to have the tenacity and power to push it to ensure we will get it sooner or later.”