Stop lying about Sabah-Sarawak constitutional amendment, KJ tells Liew
PUCHONG: Stop playing cheap politics and lie just to score brownie points for the Kimanis parliamentary by-election, Umno MP Khairy Jamaluddin told Law Minister Liew Vui Keong.
In a Facebook post yesterday, Khairy criticised Liew for twisting the facts on why the Opposition did not support the constitutional amendment to elevate the status of Sabah and Sarawak, in line with Malaysia Agreement 1963.
“Liew claimed that the Opposition didn’t vote in support of the constitutional amendment because we believed it lacked substance.
“He also claimed that 17 out of 21 demands made by Sabah and Sarawak had been collectively agreed upon with the federal government.
‘’However, let me point out to everyone that the truth is, only seven out of the 21 demands have been agreed upon when they tabled the Bill,” he said.
In a statement yesterday, Liew said that the Special Cabinet Committee had secured an agreement between the federal government and the state governments of Sabah and Sarawak on 17 out of 21 issues related to the implementation of the Malaysia Agreement 1963.
Among the 17 issues were the authority of the Sabah administration over Sipadan and Ligitan islands, export duty on wood and forest produce, the authority of the state governments over health, and the regulation of electricity and gas supplies.
“The remaining four issues are expected to be settled by the Special Cabinet Committee in early 2020. Therefore, no issue concerning an insubstantial amendment arose, as alleged,” said Liew.
However, Khairy was not impressed by Liew’s statement.
In his counter, the Rembau MP said that the Opposition had requested the Special Cabinet Committee to deliberate the proposed constitutional amendment at the Parliamentary Select Committee before tabling it at the Dewan Rakyat.
He also said that prior to the amendment being brought to the Dewan Rakyat on April 9 last year, the Special Cabinet Committee only met twice to deliberate on the matter.
“And the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) itself issued a statement on August 19 last year confirming that only seven points out of the 21 points had been agreed upon, based on a meeting on July 23.
“Let me remind you that the confirmation came four months after the constitutional amendment was tabled at the Dewan Rakyat,” said Khairy.
The former minister added that it was only on Nov 18 that the government vouched for the 17 points raised by Sabah and Sarawak, which was seven months after the Bill was tabled.
‘’This was confirmed by none other than Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Hanipa Maidin in a reply to Dewan Negara on Dec 10 last year,” said Khairy.
He added that the chronology only proved the point that the government hastily tabled the constitutional amendment in April last year, while negotiations between the federal government, Sabah and Sarawak state governments were still ongoing.
“And that was why the Opposition refused to back the constitutional amendment. We just wanted the government not to rush into things without resolving all these issues,” said Khairy.
By G Vinod
