Lawyer wants BM version of constitution declared as authoritative text
PETALING JAYA : A lawyer has filed a suit against the government in the Kuala Lumpur High Court, seeking a declaration that the Bahasa Malaysia version of the Federal Constitution is the authoritative text.
Haniff Khatri Abdulla said he filed the writ of summons and statement of claim through the law firm Ahmad Fuad Abi & Aidil.
The suit names the government as the defendant and is aimed at getting the High Court to declare that the Bahasa Malaysia version of the constitution should take precedence over the English version.
'This suit is based on Article 160B of the Federal Constitution, which provides that if and when the constitution has been translated into the national language, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong may prescribe the national language text as the authoritative text.
'After that, if there is any conflict or inconsistency between the national language and English text, then the national language text shall prevail,' he said.
Although the Agong had launched the BM version of the constitution on Sept 29, 2003, Haniff said, the government has yet to make it the authoritative version.
'Even more than two decades later, the government continues to fail, refuse and/or neglect to enforce the position of the text in the national language as the authoritative version,' he said.
He claimed this was a breach of the government's constitutional duty to ensure that it took the necessary steps to uphold and dignify the national language.
'It is highly unreasonable that a sovereign and independent nation like Malaysia still does not have an authoritative constitutional text in its own national language, more than six decades after achieving independence,' he said.
In 2023, then attorney-general Idrus Harun said the Attorney-General's Chambers planned to suggest that the government make the Bahasa Malaysia version of the constitution the authoritative text.
However, he said, this was subject to the approval of the king.
This proposal was met with opposition from an interfaith council, which said relying on the Bahasa Malaysia text would have an effect on the Federal Court ruling on unilateral conversion.
An MP also said such a move must first obtain Sabah and Sarawak's approval.
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