Revert title of TYY to Governor, says PBK President

                             Voon Lee Shan

KUCHING : The title of Head of State of Sarawak should be reverted back to its original "Governor" to safeguard the dignity of the highest office in the state. 

"The Head of State should be called Governor to maintain the dignity of this office," said Voon Lee Shan, the president of Parti Bumi Kenyalang, in a statement here today.

He said, previously the Head of State of Sarawak was addressed as Governor during the British time but was later on downgraded as TYT after the Federation of Malaysia was formed. 

"The title "Governor of Sarawak" is a reflection that Sarawak was a sovereign country that helped formed Malaysia.

"It is not morally and politically right to only upgrade the title of Chief Minister of Sarawak to Premier of Sarawak while leaving the title of Head of State unchanged," he further argued.

According to Voon, the opportune time to revert the title of Tuan Yang Terutama to Govenor of Sarawak comes this July 22 State Celebration of Sarawak Day.

He also said Sarawak government should not allow itself to be dictated by the federal government because the state has the autonomy to do things that is in the best interest of Sarawak.

"The Sarawak Government is herewith reminded that Malaysia is not a country but a federation as mentioned in the federal constitution, and thay Sarawak was a country when Sarawak helped formed Malaysia. 

"There was no intention to downgrade the status of Sarawak as a country when Sarawak intended to join formed Malaysia with the federation of Malaya along with Singapore and Sabah," he pointed out.

Voon also said the Sarawak government should take note that when the federation of Malaysia was formed, Lee Kuan Yew did not relinquish or change or downgrade his title from Prime Minister to Chief Minister when Tunku Abdul Rahman insisted so.

Then, Tunku said Lee should drop the title of Prime Minister because according to him, a country cannot have two Prime Ministers.

"This shows Lee Kuan Yew knew the right of Singapore in the federation of Malaysia. Sarawak should emulate Singapore," Voon said.#