KUCHING: The Chief Minister of Sarawak will now be known as "Premier" after a constitutional amendment was approved in the state legislative assembly on Tuesday (Feb 15).

       The Constitution of the State of Sarawak (Amendment) Bill was passed after the vote was recounted to secure the required two-thirds majority.

       When the vote was called following the Bill's second reading, 54 members voted in favour while six opposed, one short of a two-thirds majority in the 82-member House.

       Speaker Tan Sri Mohamad Asfia Awang Nassar then ordered the bell to be rung for five minutes to call members into the chamber.

       When the vote was recounted, a total of 67 members voted in support with six against.

       The Bill, tabled by state Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, proposed amending Article 6(3) by substituting the words "Chief Minister" with "Premier" and Article 44 to include the interpretation of Premier as "the Chief Minister appointed under Article 6(3)”.

       It also sought to amend Article 7A to rename assistant ministers as deputy ministers.

       Karim said the restyling of "Chief Minister" to "Premier" would correctly reflect Sarawak's status as different from the other states in Malaysia.

       He said this would give full effect to the recent Federal Constitution amendments which restored Sarawak's rights and status as one of three regions which formed the Federation of Malaysia under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).

       "The bigger picture behind this amendment is to emphasise the difference in status enjoyed by Sarawak," he said when winding up the debate on the Bill.

       "The country will be reminded of the different treatment that Sarawak needs to be given as one of the three regions that formed Malaysia."

       On concerns raised by Ba'Kelalan assemblyman Baru Bian that the renaming was unconstitutional, Karim said there was no conflict between state and federal law with regard to this matter.

       He said this was because the amendment Bill provided that any reference to the chief minister in any written law shall refer to the Premier.

       Baru had said that the word "Premier" was not used anywhere in the Federal Constitution or pre-Malaysia historical documents in relation to the chief minister of Sarawak.

       He noted that Article 160(2) of the Federal Constitution referred to the head of the executive of Sarawak as the chief minister.

       "By amending the term chief minister to Premier without a concurrent amendment in the Federal Constitution, it could be said that the amendment would destroy the basic structure of the Federal Constitution as it would render certain provisions meaningless and create confusion," Baru said when debating the Bill.

       He also said the amendment could be "caught" by Article 4 of the Federal Constitution as being inconsistent with the supreme law of the land and therefore unconstitutional.

       "My proposal is, take this term out, amend the Federal Constitution first, then come to this House with this amendment," he said.