KUCHING: Batu Lintang assemblyman See Chee How has submitted three private member’s motions for the Sarawak State Assembly (DUN) sitting beginning Dec 7.
See said his first motion proposes that the august house preserves and upholds the territorial integrity of Sarawak and notify the Federal Government that the Territorial Sea Act 2012 [Act 750] be amended and or re-enacted to provide that the Act shall not apply to the State of Sarawak.
According to him, the provisions of the Territorial Sea Act 2012 [Act 750] which was enacted by Parliament and came into effect on June 22, 2012 had altered and affected the State’s control over its territory.
“Pursuant to Article 1(3) of the Federal Constitution, the territory of the State of Sarawak is the territory comprised therein the Federation of Malaysia immediately before Malaysia Day.
“Article 2 stipulated that Parliament may by law alter the boundaries to any State but a law altering the boundaries shall not be passed without the consent of that state in a state legislature and of the Conference of Rulers.” Additionally, See pointed out that no law was passed in the Sarawak DUN to effect the altering of the boundary of Sarawak, adding that the Territorial Sea Bill 2012 tabled in Parliament did not stipulate that the prior consent of the Conference of Rulers had been obtained.
The second motion is to move the State Assembly to resolve and take constitutional and affirmative actions, to halt the consistent pattern of neglect for rural schools in Sarawak and regain autonomy in education to determine the system and policy of education in Sarawak.
The motion proposes that the august house call upon the Federal and State governments to set up a commission to look into the constitutional and legal framework and regulation of fiscal policy of the Federation for the devolution of powers to the State of Sarawak, particularly to study and propose the legislative, administrative and budgetary autonomy of Sarawak in education.
“The Sarawak State Assembly should take notice that there is a need to halt the consistent pattern of neglect for rural schools in Sarawak which has begotten our school children to generally perform below par and unable to compete with their counterparts in Peninsular Malaysia.”
See also wants the DUN to express full support and commitment for the teaching of Bahasa Malaysia in all schools in Sarawak, but at the same time, to regain the state’s autonomy in education to determine the system and policy of education in Sarawak, including the restoration of English as a medium of instruction in schools thus enabling the future generations to be educated through all mediums of instructions to better compete in the global job market.
“The Sarawak State Assembly should take notice that the Malaysia Agreement has provided that legislative, executive or other action as may be required be undertaken to implement the assurances, undertakings and recommendations contained in the Report of the Inter-Governmental Committee signed on Feb 27, 1963, including the safeguards that the policy and system of administration of education in Sarawak should remain under the control of the Government of Sarawak.”
The third private member’s motion is to call upon the state to take ownership of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) and propel it to be a world class university. See said Unimas was presently out of the QS annual world university rankings 2015/2016 published on Sept 15.
“In the QS Asia rankings, it (Unimas) is at No. 201-250, down from No. 181-190 in 2013. Out of the 20 Malaysian public universities, it was ranked No. 7 in 2013 and No. 9 presently.”
He noted that Unimas received RM195 million or 2.67 per cent of the RM7.3 billion federal allocation for public universities in 2015-2016, adding that the other 13 universities were allocated more than Unimas.
“With her unique socio-cultural diversity, Sarawak can enable Unimas to be an international university to prioritise serving the needs of Sarawak and all her people.”-Borneo Post
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