§ 2.36 p.m.
§ LORD OGMOREMy Lords, I beg to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to make in the near future fresh constitutional arrangements for Sarawak and, if so, what they are.]
THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (LORD LLOYD)My Lords, Her Majesty's Government hope to bring into force new constitutional arrangements for Sarawak in the near future. These will give effect to the proposals put forward in a Resolution moved by an unofficial member and passed unanimously by the Council Negri on September 7, 1955. A copy of the Resolution is in the Library of the House. In brief, the new arrangements will be as follows: the Council Negri (or Legislative Assembly) will have forty-two members of whom twenty-four will be unofficial members; it will thus have an unofficial majority; the unofficial members will be elected by divisional and municipal councils from among their own members. The Supreme (or Executive) Council will consist of ten members, five of whom will be elected by the unofficial members of the Council Negri from among their own number. The Constitution will provide for reserved powers and power of disallowance as is customary for a Legislature with an unofficial majority.
§ LORD OGMOREMy Lords, I thank the noble Lord for that statement. May I ask whether inquiry was made by the Government of Sarawak from the various 1064 bodies of opinion before the new Constitution was formulated? Secondly, may I ask whether it has, on the whole, had a favourable reception in Sarawak?
LORD LLOYDMy Lords, the proposals for the revision of the Constitution have, as a matter of fact, been fully discussed during the last two or three years, and were generally accepted by representative bodies, local authority and divisional councils, municipal councils and individual leaders of the community before being embodied in the Resolution introduced in the Council Negri. Full reports of the debate were published in English, Chinese and Dyak newspapers, and an explanation of the proposals was broadcast by the local Attorney-General over Radio Sarawak, and subsequently repeated in Chinese, Malay and Dyak. To the best of my knowledge the proposals have had a favourable reception. They certainly were unanimously supported by the Council Negri.
§ LORD OGMOREI take it, therefore —perhaps the noble Lord will be good enough to confirm this—that there is no truth in the suggestion which has appeared in an English newspaper that the people of Sarawak were not consulted on this important development.
LORD LLOYDI am obliged to the noble Lord. I should like to say that, as I understand it, that is the situation, and there is no truth whatsoever in the rumour which he has mentioned.