KUALA LUMPUR (September 17): Amendments to the Federal Constitution to reflect terms in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) needs majority support in Parliament first, said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The Malaysian Insight reported that Dr Mahathir said the process would not be easy, as the current government do not form the majority in Parliament at present.

“We will find out whether we can go to Parliament or not… when we talk about making the changes, they will say some things and find ways to tell others not to support the move and then we have a problem.

“At the moment, we don’t have the two-thirds majority needed to change the Constitution, so we have to figure out how we can achieve two-thirds majority.  

“For example, the plan to abolish the Anti-Fake News Act, we thought initially, they would support us, but when it went to the Senate, where we don’t have the majority, we lost,” he said, as quoted by the news portal.

In his Malaysia Day address last night, Dr Mahathir said Putrajaya planned to restore the status of Sabah and Sarawak as equal partners, in line with what was stated during the formation of Malaysia 55 years ago.

Putrajaya would also keep its promise, he said, to restore and return the Borneo states their special rights and terms on revenue-sharing.

Dr Mahathir said there would be detailed study, to look into which areas of the Constitution needed to be changed.

Dr Mahathir said decision made in Putrajaya were undertaken by leaders who were unfamiliar with the situation in Sabah and Sarawak, which needed a solution.

“Either we have more Sabahans and Sarawakians working in the peninsula and in the federal government or we have some of the decision-making (processes) transferred to Sabah and Sarawak,” he said.

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