{"id":24356,"date":"2019-05-02T20:40:08","date_gmt":"2019-05-02T12:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/?p=24356"},"modified":"2019-05-02T23:12:05","modified_gmt":"2019-05-02T15:12:05","slug":"full-text-of-datuk-sebastian-ting-chiew-yew-n-73-piasau-dun-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/?p=24356","title":{"rendered":"Full text of Datuk Sebastian Ting Chiew Yew (N.73 – Piasau) DUN speech"},"content":{"rendered":"

1.0\u200bADDRESS<\/p>\n

\u200bTuan Speaker.<\/p>\n

1.1\u200bThank you for giving me the opportunity to address in the\u00a0august\u00a0House today. I wish to record my sincere appreciation to Tuan Yang Terutama Yang di-Pertua Negeri Sarawak for his most gracious opening address of the First Meeting of the Fourth Session 18th\u00a0Sarawak State Legislative Assembly on the 29th\u00a0April 2019.<\/p>\n

1.2\u200bI would like to congratulate YAB Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi (Dr) Abang Zohari for his 65 decisions to date since he became the 6th Chief Minister of Sarawak on January 13, 2017. Indeed, our Chief Minister walked the talk.\u00a0Only just now, our Chief\u00a0Minister\u00a0presented a cheque of RM 8 million to the\u00a0Sarawak United Association of Private Chinese Secondary School Management\u00a0Board. In aid of 14 independent Chinese secondary schools in Sarawak. He reiterated that Sarawak Government recognition of Unified Examination Certificate (UEC).<\/p>\n

2.0\u200bTYT ROYAL ADDRESS<\/p>\n

\u200bTuan Speaker.<\/p>\n

2.1\u200bThe royal address by Tuan Yang Terutama\u00a0wasvery\u00a0comprehensive and\u00a0full of encouragement to all the Honourable Members and the State Government of Sarawak to continue to strive in improving the well-being and the living standard of the people.<\/p>\n

2.2\u200bTo always try our best in creating opportunity for our people such as\u00a0providing good education, job, health care, security, affordable housing and many more for our people to live to their maximum potential through people-centric policies and solutions.<\/p>\n

2.3\u200bTuan Yang Terutama is giving his full support to the State Government of Sarawak’s effort in reclaiming Sarawak’s rights as promised and enshrined in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and the Federal Constitution for the betterment and development of Sarawak.<\/p>\n

3.0\u200bESPORT<\/p>\n

\u200bTuan Speaker.<\/p>\n

3.1\u200bLately, eSports has garnered huge attention all around the world of all ages and not just to the young adults. It\u00a0is\u00a0estimated that throughout Malaysia, we have more than 14 million e-gamers, ranging from amateur to professional players under different devices, such as PC, PlayStation, Xbox and mobile phone. At the moment, the eSport industry is still at its infancy in Malaysia but it is getting popular incredibly, attracting more new players and investors from the private and public sectors.<\/p>\n

3.2\u200bAccording to Deloitte last year, the annual revenue from the sponsorship and advertising to over 600 million international fans and players was expected to value amounting RM 6.2 billion. I believe that eSport is a booming industry holding promise for a multitude of monetization opportunities for Sarawak.<\/p>\n

\u200bTuan Speaker.<\/p>\n

3.3\u200bIt will help to boost our tourism industry, marketing industry, hotel industry as well as our food and beverages industry. The incredible thing about eSport is that it is not once a year event due to its vast selection of games therefore we can have several tournaments organize in Sarawak to attract visitors into Sarawak throughout the whole year.<\/p>\n

3.4\u200bIn these few years, Technology development has advanced in lightning speed. Even<\/p>\n

sports technology has gone to another stage –\u00a0Electronic sports (Esports) and thisglobal business industry for our youth is huge.\u00a0I would like to urge our Sarawak Government to consider and build eSport centres in Kuching, Miri, Sibu and Bintulu to provide business, opportunities, to train and encourage our young generation to enter, participate, develop themselves in this lucrative industry<\/p>\n

4.0\u200bINCREASE\u00a0SABAH AND\u00a0SARAWAK PERLIAMENTARY SEATS<\/p>\n

\u200bTuan Speaker.<\/p>\n

4.1\u200bThis year we\u00a0will be celebrating\u00a0our 56th\u00a0years in Malaysia. When\u00a0Malaysia was formed\u00a0in 1963, Sarawak and Sabah were given safeguards for additional degree of autonomy, special privileges and additional sources of revenue where other states in Peninsular\u00a0Malaysia did\u00a0not have.\u00a0These\u00a0safeguards were enshrined in the\u00a0Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63),\u00a0the Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) Report\u00a0and the Federal Constitution.<\/p>\n

4.2\u200bThese\u00a0additional\u00a0safeguards\u00a0for Sarawak and Sabah were\u00a0later\u00a0incorporated into the Federal Constitution.\u00a0It was\u00a0then\u00a0agreed during the negotiation ofthe formation of\u00a0Malaysia that\u00a0States of Malaya would not have two-thirds of the total number\u00a0of\u00a0parliamentary seats to prevent\u00a0the\u00a0States of Malaya the necessary two-thirds majority to amend the Federal Constitution or remove our constitutional safeguards at will,\u00a0with or\u00a0without Sarawak and Sabah\u00a0participation.<\/p>\n

\u200bTuan Speaker.<\/p>\n

4.3\u200bIn 1963,\u00a0Sabah, Sarawak\u00a0and Singapore held more than one-third\u00a0of the total\u00a0number of parliamentary seats.\u00a0Based on the Malaysia Bill 1963, Clause 9, the total Members of Parliament was 159 elected members.<\/p>\n

a)\u00a0104 members from the States of Malaya;<\/p>\n

b)\u00a016 members from Sabah;<\/p>\n

c)\u00a024 members from Sarawak;<\/p>\n

d)\u00a015 members from Singapore.<\/div>\n

4.4\u200bCollectively, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore held 55 seats (34.59%) of the total 159 total parliamentary seats.\u00a0The parliamentary seat ratio changed\u00a0when Singapore was\u00a0separated from\u00a0the Federation on August 9, 1965. The parliament seats held by Singapore was deleted without increasing the parliamentary seats for Sabah and Sarawak. This resulted the\u00a0ratio\u00a0parliamentary seats held by Sabah and Sarawak\u00a0combined\u00a0reduced less than one-third.<\/p>\n

4.5\u200bThe situation\u00a0deteriorated\u00a0when Federal Territory was also given parliamentary seats starting\u00a0from\u00a01973 onwards coupled with the drastic increment of parliamentary seats to the States of Malaya in the 80s and 90s, particularly between 1981 to 2003\u00a0during the\u00a0tenure of the\u00a0longest serving Prime Minister.\u00a0The\u00a0intention\u00a0was for\u00a0Peninsular Malaysia\u00a0to\u00a0have a firm grip and\u00a0hold on to absolute power, consolidating most of the powers and\u00a0centralizing\u00a0their dominating influence at the Federal Government.<\/p>\n

4.6\u200bPresently the combined parliamentary seats ofSarawak and Sabah\u00a0are 56 seats which is\u00a025.22% of the total parliamentary seats which is\u00a0far below the initial percentage held by Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore in 1963.<\/p>\n

\u200bTuan Speaker.<\/p>\n

4.7\u200bI hereby urge our\u00a0Government\u00a0of Sarawak, together with the Government of Sabah,\u00a0make a strong representation to the Federal Government to give more parliamentary seats for\u00a0Sabah and\u00a0Sarawak in accordance with the spirit of the Malaysia Agreement\u00a0of equal partnership amongst Sabah, Sarawak and States of Malaya.<\/p>\n

4.8\u200bMore parliamentary representation to Sarawak should take account not only the size of our population but also\u00a0of the size of our\u00a0Sarawak, the urgency to develop Sarawak to be at par with Peninsular\u00a0Malaysia\u00a0and more importantly, we must take note and recognize\u00a0the annual revenues contributed from Sarawak to Federal Government coffers from our oil and gas resources.<\/p>\n

4.9\u200bThe Sarawak\u00a0GPS\u00a0MPs including the\u00a0Sarawak PHmust work together with the\u00a0Sarawak\u00a0Government to fight for more parliamentary seats for Sarawak in ensuring that our rights in the\u00a0Federal\u00a0Constitution are protected.\u00a0Let usdo this together for our children and the future generations.<\/p>\n

5.0\u200bRELOCATION OF THE OFFICE OF HIGH COURT IN SABAH AND SARAWAK<\/p>\n

\u200bTuan Speaker.<\/p>\n

5.1\u200bI would like to congratulate the Honourable Member of Batu Lintang for the passing of his motion on the relocation of the office of the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak on the 30 April 2019.<\/p>\n

5.2\u200bI\u00a0had wanted to speak to the 30 April but\u00a0because it was also late at night then, I\u00a0was not given the opportunity to do so.<\/p>\n

5.3\u200bMajority of Sarawak people especially the legal fraternity and I, were shocked\u00a0and disappointed with the decision to relocate the office of the Registrar of the High Court from Kuching to Kota Kinabalu, effective on the 1stMay 2019, via a letter dated 19th\u00a0April 2019 signed by the Chief Registrar of the Federal Court.<\/p>\n

5.4\u200bThe High Court Registry was established in Kuching since the formation of Malaysia in 1963, 56 years ago, which must have been made after a thorough discussions and much consultations amongst the then Chief Ministers of both Sabah and Sarawak and the Malayan leaders.<\/p>\n

5.5\u200bThe relocation was to take effect on the 1st\u00a0May 2019. The short notice of just mere\u00a011\u00a0days of such an important matter does tell a lot to the GPS\u00a0SarawakGovernment and the people of Sarawak as a whole, especially after the failed proposed Federal Constitution\u00a0(Amendment)\u00a0Bill 2019 where all the GPS Members of Parliament abstained during the voting on the 9th\u00a0April 2019. We note that 138 Members of Parliament voted for the\u00a0proposed Federal Constitution Amendment Bill 2019, 10 short of the 148, the required two-third majority to pass the\u00a0proposed controversial Federal Constitution\u00a0(Amendment)\u00a0Bill 2019.<\/p>\n

\u200bTuan Speaker.<\/p>\n

5.6\u200bSome\u00a0people\u00a0commented this relocation decision\u00a0might be\u00a0a “tit for tat” by the\u00a0Federal Government because the GPS MPs abstained when the second reading of the proposed Federal Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2019 on the April 9, 2019<\/p>\n

5.7\u200bThe\u00a0relocation\u00a0decision was purportedly made in accordance with\u00a0Article 121(4)\u00a0of the Federal Constitution,\u00a0which\u00a0stated as follows,<\/p>\n

“In determining where the principal registry of the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak is to be, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall act on\u00a0the\u00a0advice of the Prime Minister, who shall consult the Chief Ministers of the States of Sabah and Sarawak and the Chief Judge of the High Court”.<\/p>\n

\u200bTuan Speaker.<\/p>\n

5.8\u200bThe keyword here is “shall” and thus mandatory for the Prime Minister to consult the Chief Ministers of Sabah and Sarawak before advising Yang di-Pertuan Agong of the relocation.\u00a0Very unfortunately this relocation decision\u00a0did not follow our Federal Constitution, as our Chief Minister was not consulted at all.<\/p>\n

5.9\u200bTo exacerbate the situation, the Federal Law Minister\u00a0YB Datuk Liew Vui Keong\u00a0issued a media statement dated April 21, 2019\u00a0attempted to explain\u00a0the controversial relocation by making reference to the Article 121(4) and stated, amongst others,\u00a0“There is nothing in law or in the Constitution which says that the Registry shall remain in Kuching forever”.<\/p>\n

\u200bTuan Speaker.<\/p>\n

5.10\u200bIt was after\u00a0strong\u00a0objections\u00a0from\u00a0the Government of\u00a0Sarawak,\u00a0GPS,\u00a0Advocates Association of Sarawak and\u00a0probably\u00a0the threat of being sued that prompted immediate reaction and decision that the relocation would not be “dilaksanakan” on the 1st\u00a0May 2019by a letter dated April 23, 2019 by\u00a0the Chief Registrar of the Federal Court.<\/p>\n

5.11\u200bThis relocation decision appears to be only a Sarawak affair but\u00a0if\u00a0we\u00a0examine and\u00a0look deeper, the consequences and impact actually touch on our whole nation Malaysia. Why do I say so?<\/p>\n

5.12\u200bOur Yang di-Pertuan Agong was advised to make a decision against an Article in the Federal Constitution namely Article 121(4). And our Yang di-Pertuan Agong was advised by our Prime Minister. Both our Yang di-Pertuan Agong and Prime Minister would not know the specific Articles of the Federal Constitution. Who should then give advice to Yang di-Pertuan Agong and Prime Minister?\u00a0Surely, it must be the Federal Attorney General Tommy Thomas and the Federal Law Minister.\u00a0Obviously, they had failed to do so.<\/p>\n

\u200bTuan Speaker.<\/p>\n

5.13\u200bAs\u00a0for\u00a0Federal Law Minister,\u00a0he is the protector of the\u00a0Federal\u00a0Constitution and should not allow any abrogation or violation of the Constitution.\u00a0I have requested the Federal Law Minister on two occasions, one on the April 22, 2019 and another on April 23, 2019 that\u00a0as a\u00a0responsible Law Minister\u00a0and a man of principle, he must surmount his courage\u00a0to\u00a0do the right thing\u00a0and apologize\u00a0for his mistake to the Sarawak people and the Chief Minister.\u00a0We have yet to see his apology.<\/p>\n

6.0\u200bLEGAL PROFESSION BILL 2019<\/p>\n

\u200bTuan Speaker.<\/p>\n

6.1\u200bNext shocker was\u00a0to read the draft of the Legal Profession Bill 2019 proposed by the Malaysian Bar Council which was circulated among the legal fraternity. According to sources,\u00a0the draft had been submitted to the secretariat of Parliament for consideration to be tabled as Legal Profession Bill 2019 for parliamentary debate before passed as Legal Profession Act 2019.<\/p>\n

6.2\u200bThe proposed draft of the Bill would have serious impact and consequences on the legal practices in Sabah and Sarawak.\u00a0The Sabah Law Society and the Advocates Association of Sarawak\u00a0had confirmed that they were never consulted of the draft Bill and they categorically opposed the provisions containing both\u00a0the\u00a0extension of the Legal Profession Act 2019 and the repeal of the Advocates Ordinances of Sabah and Sarawak as contained in the draft Bill.\u00a0The State Government of Sarawak was never consulted of the draft Bill also.<\/p>\n

\u200bTuan Speaker.<\/p>\n

6.3\u200bThe Clause 211(2)\u00a0of the draft Bill\u00a0is very clear of its intention, which is to repeal the Advocates Ordinance of Sabah (Sabah Cap 2) and the Advocates Ordinance of Sarawak (Cap 110) on the coming into operation of this Act in Sabah and Sarawak.<\/p>\n

6.4\u200bThe draft Legal Profession Bill 2019 cannot repeal our Advocates Ordinance of Sarawak.\u00a0Most of us\u00a0are of the opinion that our respective Sabah and Sarawak State Assemblies are proper legislative assemblies and authority to consider, amend and repeal our own\u00a0Ordinances as this had been one of our few safeguards during the formation of Malaysia that our own Ordinances, pre-formation of Malaysia, shall remain our Sabah and Sarawak respective laws and these Ordinances were not repealed at the time when Malaysia came into existence or be repealed by an Act of Parliament without the consent of our Sarawak DUN.<\/p>\n

7.0\u200bREFERENDUM<\/p>\n

\u200bTuan Speaker.<\/p>\n

7.1\u200bAccording to the United Nations Malaysia Mission Report, “Final Conclusions of the Secretary-General” on September 14, 1963, 2 days before Malaysia came into being, concluded that the formation of Malaysia fulfill the requirements set out in General Assembly\u00a0Resolution 1541 (XV) whereby we achieved self-government by integration with an independent State. The independent State in this case was the Federation of Malaya.<\/p>\n

7.2\u200bOf course, at that time, SUPP objected\u00a0to\u00a0the formation of Malaysia. The late Tan Sri Datuk Amar Stephen Yong\u00a0explained his stance on the matter\u00a0in the Council Negri\u00a0Session which was\u00a0conducted\u00a0from 1st\u00a0to 7thSeptember 1963. And\u00a0he\u00a0said,<\/p>\n

“I do feel that if we really want to be free, and independent, there is no reason why we must join up with another country which is already independent. The terms that had been make known to\u00a0us, in my submission, are not conductive to true independence of Sarawak. It is nothing but an integration of the country into the Federation of Malaya”.<\/p>\n

\u200bTuan Speaker.<\/p>\n

7.3\u200bOur Party then\u00a0was of opinion\u00a0that the formation of Malaysia was done hastily after the announcement by Tunku Abdul Rahman on May 27, 1961. The formation only took 2 years without adequate preparation, and that people were not able to fully express their views, and in views of this we took the line that anything formed hastily like this could not possibly last. That was when our Party asked the British government to conduct Referendum to determine if majority of people would welcome the formation of Malaysia. Sadly, the British ignored the request.<\/p>\n

7.4\u200bSUPP tried again, the second attempt\u00a0by passing a Motion in Kuching Municipal Council on August 24, 1965\u00a0to urge\u00a0the State Government of Sarawak to hold a Referendum\u00a0after\u00a0Singapore was\u00a0separated\u00a0from\u00a0the Federation on August 9, 1965. The motion reads\u00a0and I quote,<\/p>\n

“Whereas the Federation of Malaysia was made up to 4 component States, namely, Malaya, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak.<\/p>\n

And Whereas the eviction of the State of Singapore had destroyed the basis of Malaysia.<\/p>\n

And Whereas the changed situation calls for a review of the conditions of Sarawak’s entry into the Federation of Malaysia.<\/p>\n

Now it is resolved that the State Government of Sarawak be urged to hold a Referendum forthwith in Sarawak to determine whether or not the peoples of Sarawak are still in favour of Sarawak remaining in the Federation of Malaysia.”<\/p>\n

We wonder what Sarawak would be if a Referendum was indeed conducted then.<\/p>\n

\u200bTuan Speaker.<\/p>\n

7.5\u200bIn my own kawasan Piasau and the places that I visited throughout Sarawak, I have been hearing voices of Referendum to be conducted, the soonest possible. This is also my own firm belief that we should\u00a0allow our people to participate in deciding the future of Sarawak. It is not unconstitutional to press\u00a0for a Referendum because I believe in keeping\u00a0our\u00a0people informed of political\u00a0challenges\u00a0of the day and\u00a0our people, being the stakeholders, are given the opportunities to exercise their democratic rights, other than\u00a0electing our people’s representative\u00a0once every 5 years,\u00a0to decide for\u00a0the betterment of\u00a0Sarawak.<\/p>\n

\u200bTuan Speaker.<\/p>\n

7.6\u200bOur people are most unhappy and to a certain extend frustrated with this unfair treatment from the Federal Government.<\/p>\n

7.7\u200bIt is my wish to see that the Referendum Bill\u00a0can be\u00a0considered and tabled for debate and\u00a0passed\u00a0in this august House\u00a0as soonest as possible.\u00a0I believe crucial issue such as asking for the increase of Sarawak parliamentary seats would be in stronger representation to the Federal Government with the support of the people through Referendum.<\/p>\n

7.8\u200bWe\u00a0must\u00a0always\u00a0put Sarawak First\u00a0at all times.<\/p>\n

8.0\u200bCLOSING<\/p>\n

8.1\u200bThank you\u00a0Datuk Amar\u00a0Tuan Speaker, Deputy Tuan Speaker and all the DUN staffs for the smooth running of this DUN session. I would like to wish\u00a0everyonewho\u00a0is\u00a0celebrating Gawai, “A Happy Gawai”, “Gayu guru gerai nyamai” and those celebrating Hari Raya, “Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri Maaf Zahir dan Batin”.<\/p>\n

8.2\u200bWith that note, I beg to support the motion of appreciation to the Royal Address by Tuan Yang Terutama in this august House.<\/p>\n

8.3\u200bThank you and God Bless.<\/p>\n

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1.0\u200bADDRESS \u200bTuan Speaker. 1.1\u200bThank you for giving me the opportunity to address in the\u00a0august\u00a0House today. I wish to record my sincere appreciation to Tuan Yang Terutama Yang di-Pertua Negeri Sarawak for his most gracious opening address of the First Meeting of the Fourth Session 18th\u00a0Sarawak State Legislative Assembly on the 29th\u00a0April 2019. 1.2\u200bI would like to congratulate YAB Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi (Dr) Abang Zohari for his 65 decisions to date since he became the 6th Chief Minister of Sarawak on January 13, 2017. Indeed, our Chief Minister walked theRead More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24357,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24356"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24356"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24358,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24356\/revisions\/24358"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}