The Sarawak government is in the midst of drafting the conditions and requirements to the Interpretation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2022, said Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali.

The Deputy Minister in the Premier of Sarawak’s Department (Law, MA63 and State-Federal Relations) said the draft for the recognition of a person who is a citizen and natural born child of a person of a race indigenous to Sarawak as a Native of Sarawak as stipulated in the Ordinance will be imposed by the Cabinet.

“To safeguard the special position and rights of the Native of Sarawak enshrined under the Federal Constitution, the state government needs to ensure that the said conditions and requirements are suitable, reasonable, practical, and, more importantly, are not redundant with the current conditions, requirements, and process,” she said in a statement.

She said in order to achieve this and in drafting of such conditions and requirements, the state government has directed relevant government agencies such as the Council for Native Customs and Traditions, Native Courts of Sarawak, and the State Secretary’s office together with the State Attorney-General’s Chambers to look into this matter holistically.

“Once it’s done, the draft conditions and requirements will be presented to the Cabinet for approval.

“Upon approval by the Cabinet for implementation, the said Ordinance will be gazetted for enforcement,” she said.

Sharifah Hasidah was responding to Ba Kelalan assemblyman Baru Bian’s statement on Tuesday seeking an explanation on the delay in gazetting the amended definition of Native in the Interpretation Ordinance.

Baru had urged the Sarawak government to expedite the gazette so that the amendment to the Federal Constitution could come into effect without further delay.

The Interpretation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2022 was passed by the State Legislative Assembly on Feb 15 this year and subsequently published in the Sarawak Gazette on Feb 25.

Source:
courtesy of THE BORNEO POST

by MARILYN TEN

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