by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Friday, June 18, 1993:
Tun Mustapha cannot be sworn in as Sabah Affairs Minister in early August unless unconstitutional pressure is applied to get the constitutional amendment to repeal Article 43(8) to become law
Deputy Prime Minister, Ghafar Baba, said in Sabah yesterday that Tun Haji Mustapha Datuk Harun is expected to be sworn in as Sabah Affairs Minister in early August.
Tun Mustapha cannot be sworn is as Sabah Affairs Minister in early August unless unconstitutional pressure is applied to get the constitutional amendment to repeal Article 43(8) to allow Tun Mustapha to keep his Usukan Sabah State Assembly seat to become law by early August.
The next Dewan Rakyat meeting is from July 19 to August 3 and the next Dewan Negara meeting from August 4 to 11. The bills passed by both Houses of Parliament will not become law until they are given the Royal Assent by the Yang di Pertuan Agong and published in the government gazette, which would normally take about one month after they had passed the Dewan Negara.
This means that according to normal practice, the constitution amendment bill to allow Tun Mustapha to become Federal Cabinet Minister without having to resign his State Assembly seat will not become law until early September.
Furthermore, under the constitution amendment in 1984, the Yang di Pertuan Agong can withhold his Royal Assent and remit the proposed new constitution amendment back to Parliament for reconsideration.
I am not saying that this will happen in the case of the new constitution amendment bill to allow Tun Mustapha to keep his Usukan Sabah State Assembly seat, although there is a stong and powerful case for the Yang di Pertuan Agong to withhold his Royal Assent on the fundamental issue as to whether it is proper and healthy that the Federal Constitution should be amended for the sake of one person.
In any event, no one, whether in Government or Opposition, should anticipate as to when Royal Assent would be given, or even if Royal Assent would be withheld, uncless unconstitutional pressure is applied.
It is therefore premature for Ghafar Baba to announce that Tun Mustapha would be sworn in as Sabah Affairs Minister in early August.
The government should give a clear-cut assurance that it would not apply unconstitutional pressure just to rush the new constitutional amendment bill through all atages so that Tun Mustapha could be sworn in as Sabah Affairs Minister in early August.