He said he believes the word “state” should be dropped in tandem with the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), which recognises Sarawak as a region and not one of the 13 states.

“Since we are a region, it is only logical that the word ‘negeri’ be dropped, so the state legislature of Sarawak should be known as Dewan Undangan Sarawak because we are not a state.

“I’ll leave it to the executive (to decide),” he said here today in response to a Facebook post by deputy premier Dr Sim Kui Hian on April 21 that during a recent Hari Raya Aidilfitri open house hosted by the Sarawak legislative assembly, the venue was named Dewan Undangan Sarawak instead of Dewan Undangan Negeri Sarawak.

Sim said the change was to recognise Sarawak as a founding partner of Malaysia and not merely a state.

Asfia said should the change take place, he proposes that the members and speaker of the assembly be called members and speaker of Dewan Sarawak.

He also opposed the use of the word “wilayah”, or region, as it will reduce Sarawak to that of Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan.