KOTA KINABALU: There is no immediate need for Sabah to emulate Sarawak and change the head of the state government’s title from “chief minister” to ‘premier’, says the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP).

       SAPP president Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee said there were more important issues to pursue like regaining Sabah lost rights under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).

       “Obtaining substance of autonomy is more important than the name change,” he said when asked about Sarawak amending its state Constitution to rename the post.

       “We (Sabah) should pursue the transfer of powers for items under the federal, concurrent lists to the state list,” said Yong, whose party is part of the ruling Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) state government.

       However, he said that the first constitutional change Sabah should be to revert the name of the Yang di-Pertua Negeri back to Yang di-Pertua Negara, which was changed in 1976.

       Yong, a former Sabah chief minister, said that reverting back to the original title of the head of state would reflect Sabah as a nation that joined the federation of Malaysia.

       On Sarawak’s move to use the term “premier”, he 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 said.

       Yong said the question would not arise for Melaka and Penang because they, like states, with mentris besar, have no cabinets but only executive councils.

       Meanwhile, Edward Linggu, secretary-general Sabah STAR, another GRS component party, said that reverting the reference to the “tuan yang terutama (TYT)” back to Yang di-Pertua Negara was the priority.

       However, he said that Sabah should emulate Sarawak to change the use of “chief minister” to “premier” and “assistant minister” to “deputy minister” as it was in line with the Federal Constitution amendment in Parliament last year that made the two Borneo states separate from the list of states in Malaya.

       Linggu said that this was also in line with the Federal Declaration of Malaysia in Kota Kinabalu on Sept 16, 1963, which named Tun Fuad Stephens as the Prime Minister of North Borneo (Sabah).

       He said Sabah STAR was also keen for the state government to gazette Aug 31, 1963 as the state’s impedance day from colonial rule.