Only then would the matter be put to Parliament. “We need to respect the process,” Anwar told reporters in Kuching, where he had chaired a meeting of the implementation action council for matters relating to the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).

That was why he did not want to delve into amendments to the status in the context of MA63 or the constitution, he said.

Anwar said the status of the two states would not be affected, regardless of the terminology used for them.

“It would not change the government’s stance that there are three entities (that form Malaysia), namely Sabah, Sarawak and the States of Malaya (Peninsular Malaysia).”

The governments of Sabah and Sarawak had long protested against a change in the Federal Constitution by which Sabah and Sarawak were listed as being among the 13 states forming the federation.

They had demanded that their states be listed separately, as at the time of the formation of Malaysia and a constitutional amendment to this effect was approved by Parliament and came into force in February last year.

The amendment restored a Clause to state that the states of the federation comprised the States of Malaya (Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Penang, Perak, Perlis, Selangor and Terengganu) and the Borneo States, namely, Sabah and Sarawak.

Earlier this month, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had said during the party’s general assembly that Sabah and Sarawak had been accorded the status of “regions” and are no longer regarded as “states” within Malaysia.

However, Sarawak premier Abang Johari Openg said the change in status had yet to be gazetted.