Expert: Adnan’s idea to annex Penang against Federalism

Minister must remember history when Malayan Union was shot down and Federation of Malaya set up, says Abdul Aziz Bari.

PETALING JAYA: Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor’s suggestion that Penang be made a Federal Territory is an indirect threat to federalism, law expert Abdul Aziz Bari said.

“His suggestion is also an affront and inimical to the democratic spirit that has been kept alive though the federal set-up,” he said.

He said this in response to Adnan’s interview with business radio station BFM89.9 on Wednesday where he said he would like to turn Penang, Langkawi and parts of Malacca into federal territories.

Adnan had said this would ensure adequate funding and more development for those states.

Aziz said, in fact, the idea of not setting up federal territories could be traced as far back as 1948.

“The setting up of the Federation of Malaya in 1948 was a reversal of the unitary trend sought to be installed by the Malayan Union in 1946,” he said

Under the Malayan Union, the nine Malay states and the Straits Settlements of Penang and Malacca were to be placed as a crown colony under direct British rule.

However, Umno opposed the Malayan Union because it restricted the Malay rulers’ powers and Malay special privileges, and granted citizenship and equal rights to non-Malays.

The federation was expanded and renamed Malaysia in 1963 when Sabah, Sarawak and Malaya formed a larger federation, with a number of rights and privileges given to the Borneo states.

Aziz said Adnan’s statement revealed his “gross misunderstanding” of the spirit of federalism which has been one of the foundations of the Malaysian Constitution.

He said the existing Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya should be returned to the respective states.

The minister, he said, should remember that when the country gained independence from Britain in 1957, Kuala Lumpur was part of Selangor.

He said the surrender of Kuala Lumpur and then Labuan as well as Putrajaya was very much the will of the sitting prime ministers, all of whom turned their back on the original nature and essence of a federation.

Aziz said the minister should remember that the existing federal arrangement was already central-biased and a move to turn more states into federal territories was a move in the wrong direction.

Penang Barisan Nasional chief Teng Chang Yeow and Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng have shot down Adnan’s suggestion.

Teng, who wants the island to remain as part of Penang state, said those who wanted to pursue the idea could “dream on”.

Lim , who strongly objected to the suggestion, described Adnan as a “penakluk” (conqueror) and that the minister had not bothered to discuss his proposal before making it public.-FMT