KUCHING: The Constitution of the State of Sarawak (Amendment) Bill 2022, which contains a clause to change the designation of the “Chief minister” to “Premier”, was passed by the State Legislative Assembly on Tuesday (Feb 15).
Tabled by State Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, the bill was passed with more than two-thirds majority when 67 members voted in favour, while six members opposed it.
Abdul Karim said the amendment is in accordance with the amendment to the Federal Constitution enforced last week.
Explaining the adoption of the word “premier” to substitute “chief minister” under Article 6(3) of the Sarawak Constitution, he said it is a similar set-up practised in other Commonwealth regions.
“The head of the federation is styled as the prime minister and heads of regions constituting the federation are styled as premiers, while the other subregions or states are headed by chief ministers,” he said.
Also proposed in the bill is the redesignation of the term “assistant minister” to “deputy minister”.
Abdul Karim said the redesignation is necessary in view of the responsibilities that they hold and exercise.
“The designation of ‘assistant ministers’ is restyled as ‘deputy ministers’ to better reflect their functions and responsibilities,” he said.
Meanwhile, Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing (GPS-Dudong) when debating the bill said Sarawak should strive for more autonomy powers by passing appropriate resolutions or amending other related portions of the State Constitution.
“Matters involving the interests and rights of the people of Sarawak must be prioritised. So too must subjects involving household income, employment opportunities and infrastructure development in Sarawak,” he said.
Chong Chieng Jen (Pakatan Harapan-Padungan), meanwhile, raised the issue of the term “premier” in the bill which could be confusing once translated into Bahasa Malaysia.
He said the august house should have made a stand to come up with a standard term for the title in Bahasa Malaysia before proceeding to pass the bill.
Baru Bian (PSB-Ba’Kelalan), on the other hand, in his debate speech said the bill is unconstitutional as the Federal Constitution at the moment refers to Sarawak’s head of executive as the chief minister and nowhere in the nation’s supreme law is the position mentioned as the “premier”.
“It would be better to take concrete steps to benefit Sarawak and Sarawakians tangibly rather than rushing into a name change that may bring some self-gratification but may ultimately be criticised for being unconstitutional,” he said.
But Fazzruddin Abdul Rahman (GPS-Tupong) said changing the title provides a distinction of Sarawak’s chief executive to that of the chief ministers of Melaka and Penang.
“What is more important is the spirit behind the introduction of this new word or title to signify the difference among the three partners forming Malaysia,” he added.
