KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 13 — Sarawak DAP MPs will forgo the Sarawak state election campaign tomorrow in order to take part in the voting of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) constitutional amendment in Parliament said its chief Stampin MP Chong Chien Jen.

He said despite the heavy schedule of campaigning, he, Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii, Mas Gading MP Mordi Bimol, Sarikei MP Wong Ling Biu, Lanang MP Alice Lau and Sibu MP Oscar Ling — all from the party will travel to Kuala Lumpur to ensure the amendment — that needs two-thirds of Parliamentary majority happens.

"We will on Tuesday support the amendment. We will support things that benefit Sarawak,” he told a press conference in Kitang DAP office here today.

November 3, the government through the de facto law minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar tabled the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2021 for first reading in the Dewan Rakyat which, among others, seeks to insert mention of the states of Malaya and the Borneo states. 

However, Chong said he was disappointed that the government has also rejected the proposal to further devolve federal powers over Sabah and Sarawak on Healthcare and Education.

Chong, Kota Kinabalu MP Chan Foong Hin and Tuaran MP Datuk Seri Madius Tangau have jointly submitted a notice of motion to the Speaker to incorporate an amendment to the Ninth Schedule of the Federal Constitution List IIIA which is the Concurrent List for States of Sabah and Sarawak to include healthcare and education to the list.

"Our proposed amendment is to devolve the power over healthcare and education to the State so that the State Government can also legislate on matters over healthcare and education. This is also in line with what the people of Sabah and Sarawak want all this while.

"However, despite all said by GPS and SUPP for autonomy over healthcare and education, our motion was rejected because the Federal Cabinet refused to allow our motion to be tabled in Parliament and thus the rejection of my motion by the Speaker,” he said while also producing Speaker Tan Sri Azhar Azizan Harun’s letter dated December 9 rejecting the proposal on the grounds that it needed "more discussions between the federal and state governments.”

Meanwhile, Dr Kelvin who was also present in the press conference also recalled the date April 9, 2019, when then Pakatan Harapan (PH) government brought the constitutional amendment to the Parliament which failed as it was not supported by Barisan Nasional and GPS MPs.

He said if GPS then supported it, amendments would have already been approved two years earlier, rather than only looked at after the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the government and PH.

"Undeniably, it was a huge first step initiated by the then Pakatan Harapan (PH) Federal Government to right the wrongs of Barisan Nasional’s (BN) 1976 Federal Constitution amendment by restoring the original spirit of MA63 and realising the wishes of the people to reinstate the status of equal partners to Sabah and Sarawak.

"Yet, what was supposed to be a historic moment for the nation did not come to fruition as a number of elected representatives from Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) alongside their allies from Umno and PAS opted to put political interest above the interest of Sarawak,” he said.

The Batu Kawah state seat candidate also called for Wan Junaidi, himself a Sarawak GPS MP Even so to expedite the amendments to give autonomy of healthcare and education, which will be the building block for us to get autonomy in health and education in Sarawak.

"It is as clear as day that Sarawakians could have benefitted from this amendment two years ago and follow-up negotiations to restore the rights of Sarawakians could have been underway at a faster pace instead of the delay that was experienced in the last 32 months 

"Tomorrow, the MA63 will again get its time of day in the Dewan Rakyat to be debated. While I will be pushing for more especially the two main items mentioned above, I will not jeopardise any first steps to restore our rights under the MA63,” he said.