Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing
SIBU (Oct 29): Bintulu MP Dato Seri Tiong King Sing said the amendments to the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) are a major and comprehensive undertaking, requiring careful deliberations.
He said the process is not as simple as merely changing a few words for it to be a meaningful or sufficient amendment of Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution as what Pakatan Harapan (PH) seem to think.
“Postponing the tabling of the Bill to amend the Constitution until December will ensure that the amendments will not be as ‘watered down’ as the PH government’s attempted to pass back then,” he said in a media statement.
Tiong was responding to the statement from DAP Tanjung Batu assemblyman Chiew Chin Sing claiming the postponement of the tabling of the constitutional Bill was tantamount to ‘shelving’ the amendments.
He added the Dewan Rakyat is now focused on the tabling of the Budget 2022 this week and on the subsequent debates.
“After this, there will be time enough to table the proposed amendments to the Federal Constitution.
Is it possible that Chiew and the DAP hope that the amendments will be tabled and rushed so that they can also claim the credit for their own publicity?” he asked.
Tiong recalled the proposed Bill to amend the Constitution in 2019 stirred up intense debates in the House after Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) opposed the Bill when it was tabled for first reading by the PH government because it did not address all the issues related to MA63.
He said the amendments should have included other articles related to the formation of Malaysia but PH firmly disagreed at the time.
“We strongly requested that the amendments to Article 1(2) must be in line with the provisions of the MA63 during the second reading.
PH disagreed with this and yet, Chiew is now claiming credit for it. But he dared not say that if the amendments proposed by PH had indeed been tabled two years ago, they would have sold out their own state.
“What would Sarawak’s status be today? I challenge Chiew Chin Sing to answer this.”
Adding on, Tiong asked why PH did not sit down with constitutional experts and the Sarawak government to carefully discuss the amendments in 2019.
“Or are they only making noise now that the state election is imminent and they need something to talk about?
“They are welcome to evaluate our efforts us but wait for us to complete the process. Perhaps what we do will not be as complete or as perfect as we all want but it will still not be too late to give comments if there is a need then.”
Tiong also asked Chiew why the PH government did not say a word when Petronas refused to pay the sales tax from petroleum products owed to the state government
“Even the Finance Minister then was from DAP but Petronas still refused to pay up,” he added.
Additionally, he said the Sarawak DAP chief Chong Chieng Jen also promised to retain 50% of the tax revenue collected and 20 per cent of the sales tax on petroleum products.
“In the end, only 20 per cent of the after-tax profit was left to the state, plus the original 5 per cent oil sales tax. It is typical of the DAP’s bag of tricks to deceive the people. Perhaps Chiew could explain that?”
Instead of making a populist move by pushing an imperfect constitutional amendment without heed for the consequences in the future, Tiong said it is better to take the time to perfect once and for all the amendments that would fortify Sarawak’s status within Malaysia or the long term.
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