Sarawak Assembly defers Bill on lowering eligible age to be Assemblymen

In making the decision, House Speaker Datuk Amar Mohd Asfia Awang Nasar said there were “obviously anomalies in definitions” in the Bill that had to be addressed.

“This Bill refers to Section 71 of the Immigration Act 1959 and Section 71 further refers to Section 66. In view of these anomalies and clarification of definition to be made, I hereby defer this Bill and this Bill stays deferred to a date to be fixed,” he said at the end of the debate on the Bill.

Section 71 dwells on persons to be treated as belonging to the East Malaysian State while Section 66 touches on restrictions on a citizen’s right of entry into an East Malaysian State.

State Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah (GPS-PBB Asajaya), who tabled the Bill, earlier said it was to amend Article 16 of the State Constitution by firstly lowering the age qualification to become elected state assembly members from 21 years old to 18 years old and secondly, to define and clarify the words “resident in the State”.

“This amendment is significant to ensure the provision of the Federal Constitution and the words resident in the State' need to be defined and clarified as the current provision is not clear as to the meaning of the words,” he said.

Five assembly members debated the Bill, with the opposition led by Chong Chieng Jen (PH-DAP Kota Sentosa) and Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh (PSB-Bawang Assan) objecting to the second part of the amendment.

Chong said West Malaysians and Sabahans who just had permanent resident (PR) status for two years would be eligible to be elected as a member of the Sarawak State Assembly if the amendment was to be allowed.

Wong said the amendment to the Sarawak Constitution should have been to restrict the right of election to the assembly only to those Malaysians who were born in Sarawak.

Government backbencher Datuk Idris Buang (GPS-PBB Muara Tuang) said the amendment should have taken into consideration the need to protect Sarawak from unethical and uncultured politics from other places.