KUCHING, Feb 14: The term “Premier” in the amendment to replace “Chief Minister” is an ‘alien’ term in any democratic country, opined Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) president Voon Lee Shan.
According to Voon, the more appropriate term should be “Prime Minister” because this will also be consistent with what Singapore did.
“Lee Kuan Yew was addressed as ‘Prime Minister of Singapore’ when Singapore was part of Malaysia,” he said in a statement today.
Meanwhile, Voon said the amendment to Article 44 of the Sarawak Constitution leads to acknowledgement by the GPS government that Sarawak is indeed a colony of Malaya.
He reiterated that the reference to “the Federation” as the Federation that was first established under the Federation of Malaya Agreement 1957 refers to Malaya.
“The amendment refers to the signing of the Malaysia Agreement 1963, which states that by this Malaysia Agreement 1963, Singapore, Sabah, and Sarawak were federated with the Federation of Malaya.
“The federation was called the Federation of Malaysia, and GPS government should be aware that Federation of Malaysia refers to the Federation of Malaya,” he added.
Voon said in the United Nations (UN), records show that the Federation of Malaysia indeed refers to the Federation of Malaya.
He said it was only a change of name from Malaya to Malaysia. So, therefore, Malaysia is Malaya and Malaya is Malaysia.
“This advice of change of name was made by Dato Ong Yoke Lin, the Permanent Secretary to the United Nations from the Federation of Malaya, in a letter addressed to the United Nations on September 16, 1963,” he explained.
Voon pointed out that although the word “federated” is used, in a political sense, Singapore, Sabah, and Sarawak were taken by Malaya to enlarge the territories of Malaya by a stroke of a pen with the help of the United Kingdom.
“In a book, it was stated that Singapore, Sabah, and Sarawak were a gift to Malaya from the British, and this ‘gift’ was a ‘political coup’ engineered by Tunku Abdul Rahman with the help of the British.
“For this reason, Parliament and most Cabinet post in the federal government are controlled by Malaya.
“To put things right, both the federal and Sarawak constitutions should recognise Sabah and Sarawak as countries and their Heads of State be addressed as Yang di-Pertuan Negara, not Yang di-Pertua Negeri. This will put Sabah and Sarawak in the same position before 1976,” he said. ― DayakDaily
