Opposition may not support us on MA63, says Dr M


(FMT) – Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today said he was not convinced that the opposition would support the move to restore equal partner status to Sabah and Sarawak.

Speaking to the media here today, he said the opposition’s support was needed to make up the necessary two-thirds majority before the Federal Constitution can be amended.

In order to restore equal partner status to Sabah and Sarawak, Article 1 (2) of the constitution would need to be changed and restored to the wording prior to the 1976 amendment which indicated the East Malaysian states as a separate territory from the Federation of Malaya.

“At the moment, we don’t have a two-thirds majority,” Mahathir said. “If we want to change the constitution, we need to figure out how to get a two-third’s majority.

“But in the meantime, we have to study what needs to be repealed and substitute them with new revisions in the constitution. There will be some laws which we will look into.”

He said although the opposition appeared to support the idea now, it had been proven that they might say one thing and do another when it matters the most.

He gave the example of the law on fake news, which the government had thought would get the full backing of the opposition.

“But when we went to the senate where we don’t have the majority, we lost.

“When they talk, they say one thing. Then when they are there, they get a whip to tell them not to give their support, and we have problems like this.”

However, he urged the people to continue pushing the issue, especially those in the Sabah and Sarawak governments.

On another note, he said certain issues in the states such as health and education needed to be solved by people who were familiar with the local situation.

At the moment, he said, some of these things were decided by those who did not have that familiarity.

“We need to address this either by having more Sabahans and Sarawakians working in the federal government, or transferring some of the decision-making to Sabah and Sarawak.

“For example, I was told that some of the schools here are still made of wood. That has to be attended to. They have no water supply, no toilet. There are lots of things that need to be done.”

Mahathir, who was on his first visit to Sabah after almost five years, said Kota Kinabalu had made much progress in that time.

“This is evidence that Sabah is capable of growing very quickly. What I think should be done is to identify the state assets which can be exploited.

“We have land, mountains, seas, beaches and low temperatures which may be good for vegetable growing, thus supplying Malaysia with many agricultural products,” he said.

But while there was much potential, he added, Sabah’s progress was hindered by corruption which had driven up costs.

“That will be stopped because I intend to adopt the Chinese law where we shoot people for corruption,” he joked.

Besides corruption, he said, prices of goods in Sabah were high due to the cabotage policy and cost of transportation.

In order to solve the situation, he said, the automotive industry could be brought in to support the economy and reduce costs.

He added that Sabah would be the biggest petrochemical producer in the country due to its progress in oil production.



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