KUCHING, Feb 22 — The decision by the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) as the highest law-making body in Sarawak should be respected when the constitutional amendment Bill to change the title of the state government’s head to “Premier” was passed, said Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.
Abdul Karim, who is Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) vice president, was responding to Dewan Bahasa and Pustaka’s (DBP) board of control chairman Prof Datuk Awang Sariyan’s statement that he hoped Sarawak will reconsider its decision to change the title of “Chief Minister” to “Premier”.
“That is only the DBP board of control chairman’s personal opinion and there are still many other opinions from other professors of various universities,” said Abdul Karim during a press conference at the Borneo Cultures Museum today.
He said a professor he knew was of the opinion that there was nothing wrong with the recently passed constitutional amendment, as it reflected the rights of Sarawak as a founding partner of the federation of Malaysia.
Moreover, he stressed the highest law-making bodies of the country was the Parliament at the federal level and DUN at the state level.
“You have to respect the highest law-making body (at the state level). While it is the right of the DBP to give their opinion, other members of the agency or linguistic experts might not concur with them,” said Abdul Karim.
Awang Sariyan had reportedly said one of the long-term implications of the usage of the term “Premier” instead of “Chief Minister” was it could create a perception there was a prime minister at the state level.
He said the concept of federalism, which was the basis of the Malaysian Federation, might be affected and the matter needed to be examined carefully. — Borneo Post Online
