PART XIIA. ADDITIONAL PROTECTIONS FOR STATES OF SABAH AND SARAWAK
161. Use of English and of native languages in States of Sabah and Sarawak
- No Act of Parliament terminating or restricting the use of the English language for any of the purposes mentioned in Clauses (2) to (5) of Article 152 shall come into operation as regards the use of the English language in any case mentioned in Clause (2) of this Article until ten years after Malaysia Day.
- Clause (1) applies-
- to the use of the English language in either House of Parliament by a member for or from the State of Sabah or Sarawak; and
- to the use of the English language for proceedings in the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak or in a subordinate court in the State of Sabah or Sarawak, or for such proceedings in the Federal Court or the Court of Appeal as are mentioned in Clause (4); and
- to the use of the English language in the State of Sabah or Sarawak in the Legislative Assembly or for other official purposes (including the official purposes of the Federal Government).
- Without prejudice to Clause (1), no such Act of Parliament as is there mentioned shall come into operation as regards the use of the English language for proceedings in the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak or for such proceedings in the Federal Court or the Court of Appeal as are mentioned in Clause (4), until the Act or the relevant provision of it has been approved by enactments of the Legislatures of the States of Sabah and Sarawak; and no such Act shall come into operation as regards the use of the English language in the State of Sabah or Sarawak in any other case mentioned in paragraph (b) or (c) of Clause (2), until the Act or the relevant provision of it has been approved by an enactment of the Legislature of that State.
- The proceedings in the Federal Court or the Court of Appeal referred to in Clauses (2) and (3) are any proceedings on appeal from the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak or a judge thereof, and any proceedings under Clause (2) of Article 128 for the determination of a question which has arisen in proceedings before the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak or a subordinate court in the State of Sabah or Sarawak.
- Notwithstanding anything in Article 152, in the State of Sabah or Sarawak a native language in current use in the State may be used in native courts or for any code of native law and custom, and in the case of Sarawak, until otherwise provided by enactment of the Legislature, may be used by a member addressing the Legislative Assembly or any committee thereof.
161A. Special position of natives of States of Sabah and Sarawak
- (Repealed).
- (Repealed).
- (Repealed).
- The Constitutions of the States of Sabah and Sarawak may make provision corresponding (with the necessary modifications) to Article 153.
- Article 89 shall not apply to the State of Sabah or Sarawak, and Article 8 shall not invalidate or prohibit any position of State law in the State of Sabah or Sarawak for the reservation of land for natives of the State or for alienation to them, or for giving them preferential treatment as regards the alienation of land by the State.
- In this article “native” means-
- in relation to Sarawak, a person who is a citizen and either belongs to one of the races specified in Clause (7) as indigenous to the State or is of mixed blood deriving exclusively from those races; and
- in relation to Sabah, a person who is a citizen, is the child or grandchild of a person of a race indigenous to Sabah, and was born (whether on or after Malaysia Day or not) either in Sabah or to a father domiciled in Sabah at the time of the birth.
- The races to be treated for the purposes of the definition of “native” in Clause (6) as indigenous to Sarawak are the Bukitans, Bisayahs, Dusuns, Sea Dayaks, Land Dayaks, Kadayans, Kalabits, Kayans, Kenyahs (including Sabups and Sipengs), Kajangs (including Sekapans, Kejamans, Lahanans, Punans, Tanjongs and Kanowits), Lugats, Lisums, Malays, Melanos, Muruts, Penans, Sians, Tagals, Tabuns and Ukits.
161B. Restriction on extension to non-residents of right to practise before courts in States of Sabah and Sarawak
- In so far as any provision made by or under an Act of Parliament, by removing or altering a residence qualification, confers a right to practise before a court in the States of Sabah and Sarawak or either of them on persons not previously having the right, that provisions shall not come into operation until adopted in the States or State in question by an enactment of the legislature.
- This Article shall apply to the right to practise before the Federal Court or the Court of Appeal when sitting in the States of Sabah and Sarawak and entertaining proceedings on appeal from the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak or a judge thereof or proceedings under Clause (2) of Article 128 for the determination of a question which has arisen in proceedings before the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak or a subordinate court in the State of Sabah or Sarawak.
161C. Repealed
161D. Repealed
161E. Safeguards for constitutional position of States of Sabah and Sarawak
- As from the passing of the Malaysia Act no amendment to the Constitution made in connection with the admission to the Federation of the State of Sabah or Sarawak shall be excepted from Clause (3) of Article 159 by Clause (4) (bb) of that Article; nor shall any modification made as to the application of the Constitution to the State of Sabah or Sarawak be so excepted unless the modification is such to equate or assimilate the position of that State under the Constitution to the position of the States of Malaya.
- No amendment shall be made to the Constitution without the concurrence of the Yang di-Pertua Negeri of the State of Sabah or Sarawak or each of the States of Sabah and Sarawak concerned, if the amendment is such as to affect the operation of the Constitution as regards any of the following matters:
- the right of persons born before Malaysia Day to citizenship by reason of a connection with the State, and (except to the extent that different provision is made by the Constitution as in force on Malaysia Day) the equal treatment, as regards their own citizenship and that of others, of persons born or resident in the State and of persons born or resident in the States of Malaya;
- the constitution and jurisdiction of the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak and the appointment, removal and suspension of judges of that court;
- the matters with respect to which the Legislature of the State may (or parliament may not) make laws, and the executive authority of the State in those matters, and (so far as related thereto) the financial arrangements between the Federation and the State;
- religion in the State, the use in the State or in Parliament of any language and the special treatment of natives of the State;
- the allocation to the State, in any Parliament summoned to meet before the end of August 1970, of a quota of members of the House of Representatives not less, in proportion to the total allocated to the other States which are members of the Federation on Malaysia Day, than the quota allocated to the State on that Day.
- No amendment to the Constitution which affects its operation as regards the quota of members of the House of Representatives allocated to the State of Sabah or Sarawak shall be treated for purposes of Clause (1) as equating or assimilating the position of that State to the position of the States of Malaya.
- In relation to any rights and powers conferred by federal law on the Government of the State of Sabah or Sarawak as regards entry into the State and residence in the State and matters connected therewith (whether or not the law is passed before Malaysia Day) Clause (2) shall apply, except in so far as the law provides to the contrary, as if the law had been embodied in the Constitution and those rights and powers had been included among the matters mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (e) of that Clause.
- In this Article “amendment” includes addition and repeal.
