Better to table amendment in P'ment: DAP
Published on: Saturday, February 10, 2018
Kota Kinabalu: State DAP has repeated its call on the government to table an amendment to the Federal Constitution which would restore Sabah rights in Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) in the next parliamentary sitting in March.Its secretary Chan Foong Hin proposed constitutional amendment to be a new point, in addition to the recent "positive" meeting on Sabah rights under the MA63 between MySabah group and the Attorney General's Chamber.Among the focus of the meeting was on the restoration of the special rights of the State, including the return of Sabah's 40 per cent revenue entitlement.
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It was reported that the AG Chambers would look into the legal aspects of the Sabah rights and the results would later be handed to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak for further action."There's no hassle to make the constitutional amendment as it only needs to seek for the support among the Members of Parliament."Instead of waiting for the AG Chambers' studies on the said legal aspects for issues such as 40 per cent revenue entitlement, why not the current ruling party just table a motion to pass through the constitutional amendments which would better reflect our rights in accordance with the MA63?" asked Chan, who is also Sri Tanjong Assemblyman, in a statement.He said the proposed amendments to the Federal Constitution could also be tabled as a Private Member's Bill if the Sabah BN backbenchers would want to take the lead.
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He listed them as Article 1 (2) to reflect the true spirit equal partners between Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak; Article 160 (2) to add the definition of Malaysia Day, September 16, 1963 and Article 160 (2) so that the definition of "Federal" and its formation is based on the 1963 Malaysia Agreement."The proposed amendment is not new. DAP Sabah Chairman-cum-Sandakan MP Stephen Wong has proposed his Private Member's bill twice in 2016 but was rejected by our fellow Sabahan (Tan Sri) Pandikar Amin, who is the Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat," he said.
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