Last month, de facto law minister Liew Vui Keong had announced that Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution would be retabled in the Dewan Rakyat this March.

The bill is expected to restore the status of Sabah and Sarawak as equal partners in the federation.

“With the complete support expressed by the Sarawak chief minister, the federal government is confident that the constitutional amendment to Article 1(2), when re-tabled in March 2020, will pass.

“Sabah and Sarawak will enjoy the complete spectrum of rights as equal partners in this federation,” Liew had said.

However, Abang Johari said today the state government would only support the amendment to Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution if Putrajaya included the phrase “in pursuant to Malaysia Agreement 1963”.

He said the amendment must also be read together with the amendment to Article 160(2) on the definition of “federation”.

“We insist Article 160(2) be amended to refer to the Malaysia Agreement 1963 instead of the Malaya Agreement 1957 and we also want the phrase ‘in pursuant to MA63’ included in Article 1(2),” he said at a press conference after chairing the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) Supreme Council meeting here today.

Last April, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government had failed to secure the two-thirds majority needed for the amendment to be made.

Only 138 of the 221 MPs in the house at the time voted. Of the 59 lawmakers who abstained from voting, 18 were from GPS.

GPS had claimed that “MA63” was not mentioned in the Federal Constitution and proposed its own amendment.

The proposed change read: “The states in the federation shall be, pursuant to the Malaysia Agreement 1963, (a) Malaya (Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak, Perlis, Pulau Pinang, Selangor, and Terengganu); and (b) the Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak.”