KUCHING: Sarawak’s executive branch should decide on whether to remove the word ‘state’ from the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly or not, said Speaker Tan Sri Mohamad Asfia Awang Nassar.
He said personally he believes that in tandem with the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) which recognises Sarawak as a region and not one of the 13 states, the word state should be dropped.
“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 told reporters after the Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) pre-council meeting in conjunction with the State Legislative Assembly sitting next week.
He was asked to comment on a Facebook post by Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Dr Sim Kui Hian on April 21, who stated that during a recent Hari Raya Aidilfitri open house hosted by the Sarawak Legislative Assembly, the venue was named ‘Dewan Undangan Sarawak’ instead of the commonly known ‘Dewan Undangan Negeri Sarawak’.
Dr Sim said the change was to recognise Sarawak as a founding partner of Malaysia and not merely a state.
Meanwhile, Mohamad Asfia said if the changes shall take place, he proposes that the member and speaker of the house shall be called Member of Dewan Sarawak and Speaker of Dewan Sarawak.
He also rejected the use of the word ‘wilayah’ or region as it will reduce the status of Sarawak to Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan.
