By Peter Sibon
KUCHING, May 10: The documents that were obtained by the state government from London have been very relevant and useful for the state’s Consultative Committee for the ongoing negotiation with the federal government on the state’s rights as contained in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), said Sarawak’s de facto Law Minister Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali.
As such, she refuted claims that the trip to London had been fruitless and a waste of taxpayers’ money.
“Some of the documents are very relevant for our state’s Consultative Committee to come up with our proposals for the amendment of the Federal Constitution regarding our rights under MA63.
“And we hope that the federal government’s Steering Committee will agree with our proposal as it has been passed unanimously in the just concluded DUN Sitting,” Sharifah Hasidah told DayakDaily today.
She also hoped that the Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal government would support the decision of the DUN, which was also supported by PH Sarawak lawmakers.
“We hope that when they (state PH MPs) are in Parliament, they will stand by the decision of our DUN. Their stand must be firm,” she continued.
On a related issue, Sharifah Hasidah said the state government was shocked when the bill to amend Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution was tabled in Parliament last month, as the discussion had not been completed.
“Actually, it was agreed that the amendment to the Federal Constitution will be tabled in October this year. So, what was tabled the other day was rushed. We were rather shocked and surprised. The last bill was not completed and it was still being discussed by the Technical Committee, which also included representatives from Sarawak,” she explained.
Sharifah Hasidah stressed that the motion that she tabled in DUN recently was the one the state government wanted to propose.
“That we feel, basically covers all… but as I said in my speech, the proposed amendment we suggested is not exhaustive,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Samariang assemblywoman urged the critics of the London trip to give the Sarawak Attorney-General (AG) Chambers time to sort out the materials that they had brought back.
“There are boxes of documents (which we brought back from London). There are all sorts of documents and not just the official ones such as minutes of meetings, etc. So, it will take a bit of time to sort out.
Sharifah Hasidah said once the documents had been sorted out, they will be put in the State Library and the AG Chamber’s office for reference. — DayakDaily
