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Kuala Lumpur: DAP Kota Kinabalu MP Chan Foong Hin  urged the Federal Government to swiftly retable the Bill to amend Article 1(2) of the Malaysian Federal Constitution as it is now a “low-hanging fruit”.

The DAP Sabah Secretary said this in response to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Transformation and Political Stability signed by the Federal Government and Pakatan Harapan (PH) party leaders.

“The most fundamental agenda for strengthening and implementing the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) mentioned in the MoU is a constitutional amendment.

“The amendment to Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution is certainly a ‘low-hanging fruit’ because both parties that signed the memorandum have no reason not to pass the amendment, and that the bill is already drafted and ready for retabling in Parliament anytime,”

Chan said this in his debate on the motion of thanks to the Yang Dipertuan Agong’s address to Parliament, Tuesday.

He also called on the Government to ensure that the government backbenchers respect the agreement reached between the ruling and opposition parties in the MoU, which includes the constitution amendment and the passing of an anti-party hopping law.

“I have very high hopes for both the Law Minister and the Sabah and Sarawak Affairs Ministers to ensure that the amendment to Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution can be tabled as soon as possible, and it is best to table and pass the said Bill during this parliamentary sitting itself,” said Chan.

Chan also raised his concerns on the recent heated issue regarding Islamic criminal laws and the proposed restrictions on propagation of non-Muslim religions.

“Article 3 of the Malaysian Federal Constitution provides that Islam is the official religion, but other religions can be practiced peacefully anywhere in the Federation.

“Article 11 further states that everyone has the right to freedom of religion, including the promotion of their own faith and beliefs. However, the Constitution also states that they cannot preach to Muslims,” said Chan.

Chan noted that in Sabah’s context, the conditions for Sabah’s participation in Malaysia are engraved on the Keningau Oath Stone.

He said the three major commitments are the freedom of religion in Sabah, the control of the land by the Sabah government, the respect of the laws of the indigenous peoples of Sabah and the protection of the government.

“Not only did Sabah Council of Churches President Reverend Jerry Dusing object to such proposed laws, even Chief Minister Datuk Hajiji Mohd Noor expressed his unequivocal opposition.

“I wonder why this proposal was not raised when we had a Law Minister from PAS? Why did this issue crop up again when we have a Law Minister from Sarawak and a Prime Minister promoting his ‘Keluarga Malaysia’ slogan?” questioned Chan.

Meanwhile, Chan pointed out that the Covid-19 pandemic is still quite serious in Sabah and this can be seen from Sabah’s Covid-19 “brought-in-dead” rate, which is the highest in Malaysia.

He pointed out that in the two weeks from September 5 to 18, there were a total of 517 “brought-in-dead” for Covid-19 across the country, of which 134 or 25 per cent were from Sabah.

“Besides that, it seems that Semporna district also lacks vaccination centres as it had been reported that some people were lining up at 2am in the morning but only managed to receive vaccination at 5pm.

“I have urged the Ministry of Health to invest more resources to save Sabah from the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Chan.