KUCHING, Feb 16: Sarawak People’s Aspiration Party (Aspirasi) proposes the post of Chief Minister should be renamed as Prime Minister and the holder should be addressed as ‘His Excellency’ on the international stage.
Aspirasi president Lina Soo said Sarawak’s birthright and status is of a sovereign nation since 1841, though its sovereignty was annexed by the British in 1946, and surrendered to the Federation of Malaya renamed Malaysia in 1963, but the fact remains Sarawak’s national sovereignty is inviolable and sacrosanct which only awaits the will and determination of the Sarawak people for restoration and restitution.
“The new Sarawak Premier must carry the mandate of the people with powers above the Chief Minister of the other nine Malayan states. In foreign relations and diplomacy, the Sarawak Premier must be addressed as His Excellency on the international stage as the head of our Sarawak government,” said Soo in a statement today.
Despite so, she opined that the renaming of the ‘Chief Minister of Sarawak’ to ‘Sarawak Premier’ was good, but it would have been perfect if the post had been renamed from ‘Chief Minister’ to ‘Prime Minister’.
Pointing out that English as the world’s lingua franca is nevertheless subject to context, interpretation and translation, she said it was not inappropriate to re-designate Sarawak’s Head of Government as the “Premier”.
She opined that using ‘Premier’ to denote the Sarawak head of government will distinguish the position from those of the heads of governments of the states of Malaya who are called Chief Ministers and is a welcome move. She further opined it would establish that Sarawak is one of three nations in the federation, and not one of thirteen states with thirteen chief ministers.
“The title of ‘Chief Minister’ is a British colonial legacy where on 22 July 1963, the new head of the Sarawak government (Tan Sri) Stephen Kalong Ningkan should have been called ‘Prime Minister’ instead of ‘Chief Minister’, as was Lee Kuan Yew called the Prime Minister of Singapore in 1959 who maintained his title within the federation of Malaysia. I would say this was an oversight on the part of the British government with regards to Sarawak then.
“The Sarawak government is still shy today for our head of government to carry the title of ‘Prime Minister’, unlike Singapore, but the move to ‘Premier’ is still better than none, and it should not be the last move,” Soo added.
Since Sarawak has officially voted to rename the Chief Minister’s post as ‘Premier’, Soo believed that Sarawak should make the best use of this position.
“It was the administration led by the Premier of Western Australia and the Premier of Quebec who gave their people the right to vote to choose their future in independence referendums in 1933 and 1995 respectively, and these governments have set the standards for Sarawak to emulate,” she said.
Soo’s statement was in response to the Sarawak Legislative Assembly passing the Constitution of the State of Sarawak (Amendment) Bill, 2022 yesterday which among others, redesignates the post of ‘Chief Minister’ as ‘Premier’. — DayakDaily
