The amendment to Article 44 of Sarawak Constitution leads to acknowledgment by the GPS government that Sarawak is indeed a colony of Malaya. This also shows that the analysis by many politicians and lawyers that Sarawak is a colony of Malaya should not be put to doubt anymore.

By referring “the Federation” as the Federation that was first established under the Federation of Malaya Agreement 1957 clearly refers to Malaya. The amendment refers to the signing of the Malaysia Agreement 1963. It states that by this Malaysia Agreement 1963 Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak were federated with the Federation of Malaya. The federation was called the Federation of Malaysia and GPS government should be aware that Federation of Malaysia refers to the Federation of Malaya.

In the United Nations, record exists to show that the Federation of Malaysia indeed refers to the Federation of Malaya. It was only a change of name only from Malaya to Malaysia. Therefore, Malaysia is Malaya and Malaya is Malaysia. This advice of change of name was made by Dato Ong Yoke Lin, the Permanent Secretary to the United Nations from the Federation of Malaya, in a letter addressed to the United Nations on 16 September, 1963.

See: legal.un.org./unjuridicalyearbook/pdfs/English/by_volume/1963/chptV1
Although the word, “federated” is used, but, in political sense Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak were taken by Malaya to enlarge the territories of Malaya by a stroke of a pen with the help of the United Kingdom. In a book, it was stated that Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak were a gift to Malaya from the British. This “gift” was a “political coup” engineered by Tunku Abdul Rahman with the help of the British. For this reason, parliament and most cabinet post in the federal government are controlled by Malaya.

To put things right, both the federal and Sarawak constitutions should recognize Sabah and Sarawak as countries and their Heads of State be addressed as Yang Di Pertuan Negara, not Yang Di Pertua Negeri. This will put Sabah and Sarawak to the position before 1976.

The term “Premier” in the amendment to replace, “Chief Minister” is a title alien in any democratic country. The most appropriate term should be, “Prime Minister”. This will also be consistent with what Singapore did. Lee Kuan Yew was addressed as “Prime Minister of Singapore” when Singapore was part of Malaysia.

VOON LEE SHAN
President,
Parti Bumi Kenyalang
14 February, 2022