KUALA LUMPUR (April 9): The newly-proposed amendment on Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution to again describe Sabah and Sarawak as Borneo states will reflect the original spirit of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).

This is a further amendment to the one proposed by the federal government earlier, where the two states were to only be detached from the rest of the Malaysian states in the peninsula.

The decision will now better reflect the rights of Sabah and Sarawak as founding members of the federation, said Dr Kelvin Yii Lee Wuen at a press conference outside the Dewan Rakyat today.

"The initial intention [of the Bill] was to restore the rights of Sabah and Sarawak as founding members of the Federation [in the Federal Constitution]," said Yii, who is DAP MP for Bandar Kuching.

"The amendment will restore it to the original wording as it was in the Federal Constitution pursuant to the Malaysia Agreement 1963," he said.

The Bill to amend Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution is slated for second reading today.

To recap, Article 1(2) was amended in 1976 to put all Malaysian states into a single group within the Federation.

The initial Bill tabled on April 4 this year underlined the grouping of Sabah and Sarawak into category (b) while the rest of Malaysian states remain in category (a).

The latest amendment will provide an extension to the original wording in 1963 where group (a) is described as the States of Malaya whereas group (b) is described as the Borneo States.