The party’s state leader, Chong Chieng Jen, urged BN leaders to amend the Federal Constitution to restore the status of Sabah and Sarawak as equal partners of the Federation of Malaya in forming Malaysia.

Yesterday SUPP president Dr Sim Kui Hian had stated that Sarawakians should stop belittling themselves by accepting their motherland as being “just another state” in the Malaysian federation.

Chong said an amendment to the Constitution would be more meaningful, and urged Sim and other BN leaders to push for it. “There is no point in Sim shouting outside of Parliament just to appeal to the masses,” he said.

Sim’s remark is the latest in a series of efforts by Sarawakian politicians for recognition of the territory’s equal status with Malaya, which signed the Malaysia Agreement with Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore.

However, in 1976, the Federal Constitution was amended to denote merely that Malaysia comprised 13 states and the Federal Territory, and two clauses recognising the equal status of Sabah and Sarawak were removed.

Chong said the DAP fully supported efforts to restore equal partner status.

He gave an assurance that the DAP would give full support for a constitutional amendment and ensure it achieves the two-third majority in the Dewan Rakyat.

Assemblyman for Serembu, Miro Simuh agreed with Sim’s statement. Miro told FMT that Sarawak Barisan Nasional was firmly behind Chief Minister Adenan Satem in fighting for Sarawak’s rights.

In Sabah, SAPP deputy president Melanie Chia also agreed with Sim’s statement that Sabah and Sarawak were equal partners and not mere two of the 13 states.

“The people of Sabah and Sarawak should indeed push to restore the status, rights and powers of the two territories under the Malaysian Agreement,” she said.