Sabah should focus its efforts on reverting to the title of Yang di-Pertua Negara for its head of state, instead of following Sarawak to change the chief minister's designation to premier, said former Sabah chief minister Yong Teck Lee.
The Sabah Progressive Party president (above) said the Sabah Yang di-Pertua Negara title was changed to Yang di-Pertua Negeri in 1976, and it was time to revert to the original term via a constitutional change to reflect Sabah's status as a nation that joined the federation of Malaysia.
"Obtaining substance of autonomy is more important than the name change. We (Sabah) should pursue the transfer of powers for items under the federal, concurrent lists to the state list,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Yong said there were also other important issues to pursue, such as regaining Sabah's lost rights under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
Commenting on Sarawak’s move to use the term ‘Premier’ for the post of state chief minister, Yong said the matter of its use needed to be clarified.
“One instant question is what is the Bahasa Malaysia term for ‘premier’? ‘Premier’ is the head of government in a country that has no monarch. I suppose Sabah and Sarawak can qualify also.
“But ‘prime minister’ is the title of head of a government which has a monarch. This matter needs to be clarified fully before the title of ‘premier’ is used,” he added.
Yong said the question would not arise for Malacca and Penang because they have no state cabinets, unlike Sabah and Sarawak, but only executive councils.
- Bernama
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