Junz
KOTA KINABALU: Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s recent announcement on Sabah and Sarawak being a territory is nothing more than lip service, unless the Federal Constitution is amended.
According to Datuk Junz Wong, who is Warisan vice president, Sabahans will not be fooled again.
“Thank you. But it is clearly an election gimmick. Sabahans will not fall for the same trick over and over again.
“The PM said PN needs to win big in order for a Constitutional amendment to be done. But nobody is stopping him from reconvening Parliament now. In fact, he was the one who suspended Parliament.”
Junz, who is also Tanjung Aru State Assemblyman said Parliament must reconvene in order to give effect to the term “Territory of Sabah”.
“When it is only an executive order as it is now, it is just ‘syiok sendiri’. We call ourselves a territory, but the essence and spirit of being a territory that includes our oil and gas rights, export license rights, all these have no effect. Sabahans are still short-changed by Malaya.
“In the Federal Constitution, Sabah and Sarawak are still ‘states’ alongside the likes of Kelantan, Pahang, Terengganu and Perlis.
“That is why a Constitutional Amendment is needed.”
To that, he added that Warisan had previously brought a Federal Constitution amendment in Parliament.
“In April 2019, the late Datuk Liew Vui Keong from Warisan, who was Law Minister under Tun Dr Mahathir’s administration brought a Bill to Parliament to amend the Federal Constitution, to restore the status of Sabah and Sarawak and give legal weight to the term ‘territory’.”
“We needed two thirds which is 148 MPs. But do you know what happened? Of the 197 MPs present, 138 voted for it while 59 abstained.
“The 59 who abstained caused the Bill to fail. These 59 include a certain Sabah MP who is now a Deputy Chief Minister and a group of Sarawak MPs.
“That is why the PM’s announcement is merely lip service. It is just to win votes from Sabah and Sarawak. And if he wins the support he needs, things will go back to square one. We will then hear of reviews after reviews, committees after committees, a list of unending excuses to continue to short-change Sabahans.
“But don’t worry. If indeed Muhyiddin reconvenes Parliament to amend the Federal Constitution, all Warisan MPs will support the Bill as our agenda is ‘Sabah First’.”
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