By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, Apr 3: There is no deliberate intention for Pakatan Harapan (PH) to delay disclosing the details of the proposed Amendments to Federal Constitution Article 1(2) Bill.
Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii said details of the Bill have not been given to all MPs purely due to procedural reasons.
“Details of any bill will only be disclosed on the day the bill is tabled. That is the procedure. The senior MPs and former ministers (from Gabungan Parti Sarawak or GPS) should be aware of it.
“The same procedure applies to both Parliament and State Assemblies. There is no foul play or malice for the details to be released only on the day the Bill is tabled,” Dr Yii told DayakDaily.
Citing the case of Sarawak Land Code (Amendment) Bill 2018, Dr Yii said it was of the same case when the details of the amendment was only made known to PH (who is the opposition in Sarawak) on the day the bill was tabled.
He said if there was an attempt of foul day, then PH would table, debate and pass the bill on the same day.
“PH is all for accountability and transparency for better discussion and Sarawak’s interest is always on top of priority,” said Dr Yii.
He was responding to the protests from GPS leaders and elected representatives — both state assemblymen and parliamentarians — who expressed uneasiness and raised concerns over not being given details of the proposed amendments to the Federal Constitution.
GPS leaders and elected representatives expressed that they needed time to study into the proposed amendment Bill before they could decide if it is in favour for Sarawak.
“The bill will be tabled for first reading and then, there will be a few days before it will be debated. There is even time for changes to be made before voting.”
The Bill has been widely speculated to be first tabled tomorrow (April 4) by de-facto Law Minister Datuk Liew Vui Keong and the date for debate is said to be set on April 8 with voting to be carried out on April 9. — DayakDaily
