Bung said doing so would not affect the state’s autonomy as it is guaranteed by the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).

In a Facebook post today, he said the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) government should also be cautious about the implications of an arbitrary title change on MA63, especially when Sabah disputes the interpretation of Article 112D of the Federal Constitution regarding the state’s 40% revenue rights.

“The federal and state governments must jointly obey and respect MA63 and the Federal Constitution at all times,” he said.

The Kinabatangan MP said Sabah should instead focus on reinstating the original definition of “governor” before it was removed in 1976.

“If we want to be recognised as ‘partners’ of the federal government, it’s better for us to request the return of the definition of ‘governor’. Its original definition was the head of a state with no ruler.

“We don’t need to imitate what our neighbour Sarawak is doing, as doing so will reflect that Sabah’s current leadership is barren of ideas and identity,” he said.

Bung’s comments come after GRS deputy secretary-general Armizan Mohd Ali said amending Sabah’s constitution to limit the chief minister’s tenure to two terms is more important than a proposal to change the chief minister’s title to “premier”.

On May 14, Armizan told FMT that setting a term limit for the chief minister would mitigate the risk of misconduct within the executive branch.

Two bills to change the chief minister’s title to “premier” and to set a limit for the chief minister’s tenure to two terms are expected to be tabled in the state legislature in July.

Sarawak changed the title of chief minister to premier on Feb 15, 2022. It also changed the titles of “deputy chief minister” and “assistant minister” to “deputy premier” and “deputy minister”, respectively.