Leiking calls for emergency motion on 1976 amendment
The Penampang MP does not expect any hurdles in Parliament taking the right position on the motion in the Sabah Assembly.
KOTA KINABALU: The July 13, 1976 amendment to Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution by Parliament, and the passage of time, have no effect on the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), said Penampang MP Darell Leiking in a statement.
He was referring to the 1976 amendment giving Sabah and Sarawak the status of 12th and 13th states in the Federation of Malaya (Malaysia) from their previous position as equal partners of Malaya in the Federation of Malaysia.
“Many will dissect and comment on what had happened,” he added. “It’s trite to read the Hansard records on why, in hindsight, such a grave error occurred.”
All that’s needed was for the Sabah Government to call for an emergency motion in the Legislative Assembly, said Leiking.
“Assemblypersons can vote unanimously on a motion that Sabah is an equal partner of Malaya (and Sarawak) in the Federation of Malaysia.”
The MP, who is also a lawyer, said there was “no need for any drama or act to submit a motion or memorandum to make right the error committed in 1976, all they need to do is call for an emergency sitting and vote for the reinstatement in accordance to the Malaysia Agreement 1963″.
In making the call, Leiking urged Chief Minister Musa Aman and the Sabah Government to honour and respect the memories of those leaders who died in the plane crash on June 6, 1976 in Kota Kinabalu.
In his opinion *and had they been alive at that material time they would have totally opposed the 1976 amendment and that the Federal Government would not have taken advantage of the sadness that had befallen Sabah when the Double Six tragedy happened.*
Revisiting the proposed motion, Leiking said he does not expect any hurdles in Parliament taking the right position on the motion in the Sabah Assembly as it is the right thing to do.
Leiking, who has since left Sabah PKR to become deputy president of Parti Warisan Sabah, pledged his party would vote for the pre-1976 status of Sabah and Sarawak to be restored.
Besides Leiking, Warisan has another MP in Parliament, Shafie Apdal who represents Semporna.
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Shafie, also Warisan president, was formerly an Umno vice president.