MA63 constitutional amendment
In December 2021 Parliament rewrote the clause of the Federal Constitution that lists the states of the Federation, splitting them again into "the States of Malaya" and "the Borneo States" of Sabah and Sarawak, and what that change actually delivers is still argued over.
what happened
For decades the argument between Putrajaya and the two Borneo states turned partly on a piece of drafting. In 1976, by section 2 of Act A354, Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution was rewritten so that every state, Sabah and Sarawak included, appeared in one alphabetical list. The Attorney General's Chambers reprint preserves the text this replaced, which had grouped "the States of Malaya" separately from "the Borneo States". Campaigners in Sabah and Sarawak read the 1976 change as a demotion, and undoing it became a recurring demand.
A first attempt failed. On 9 April 2019 a Constitution (Amendment) Bill got 138 votes in the Dewan Rakyat with none against and 59 abstentions, short of the 148 that Article 159 requires. Mahathir Mohamad had called it "the first step in realising the wishes of the people of Sabah and Sarawak in line with MA63". The second attempt, tabled on 3 November 2021 and wound up by Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, went the other way: on 14 December 2021 the Dewan Rakyat passed it by bloc vote with 199 MPs in favour and none against, with 21 absent. The Yang di-Pertuan Agong assented on 19 January 2022, the Act was gazetted on 25 January, and it came into operation on 11 February 2022.
It is worth reading the instrument itself, because it is short. The Constitution (Amendment) Act 2022 [Act A1642] amends four things and nothing else. Article 1(2) now lists the states in two groups, "the States of Malaya" and "the Borneo States, namely, Sabah and Sarawak". Article 160(2) gained a definition of "Malaysia Day" and a rewritten definition of "the Federation" that traces Malaysia to both the 1957 Malayan agreement and the 9 July 1963 agreement, and records Singapore's departure in 1965. A fourth change let Sarawak define by state law which races count as indigenous. The Bill's own Explanatory Statement describes the Article 1(2) change as restoring, "with modifications", the 1963 position minus Singapore.
Whether that amounts to restoring equal-partner status is where the disagreement sits, and it has not settled. The government that carried the Bill said it did: the MA63 Council's working committee on the question was literally called the Equal Status Working Committee, Wan Junaidi chaired it, and he said after passage that Sabah and Sarawak "should now talk about equal status" because the amendment gave recognition to their special privileges. Liew Chin Tong of DAP wrote that the 1976 "blunder" had been corrected after 45 years; Sabah Chief Minister Hajiji Noor called the passage momentous and expected fuller restoration of rights to follow. Neo, writing before passage, called the amendments "hopeful first steps" but said it was unclear how far they would devolve control over resource earnings and infrastructure development, described them as symbolic on de facto autonomy, and noted that the one-third parliamentary seat claim is not strictly founded in MA63. Voon Lee Shan of Parti Bumi Kenyalang said that without one-third of the 222 seats each for Sarawak and Sabah the amendments were meaningless, and lawyer Simon Siah had argued earlier that definitional change without decentralised decision-making would not be enough.
Even the vocabulary remains live, though none of the disputed words appear in the Act. Wan Junaidi said on commencement that what Sarawak is called within Malaysia was for the State Legislative Assembly to decide. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said in his policy speech to the 2022 Umno General Assembly, delivered on 13 January 2023, that Sabah and Sarawak had become "regions" rather than states; Abang Johari Openg replied that no such change had been gazetted, and Anwar Ibrahim said the question would need to go to the Conference of Rulers. In November 2025 Azalina Othman Said told the Dewan that MA63 and the Constitution define Sabah and Sarawak as states, while in April 2026 Jeffrey Kitingan pressed for "negeri" to be dropped on the grounds that the amendment restored territorial standing equal to Malaya. For a first-time voter, the useful point is that the 2021 amendment changed specific words in three articles by a near-unanimous vote, and that what those words are worth in practice is still being contested by named people on both sides.
the working
What the sources say
established
The instrument is the Constitution (Amendment) Act 2022 [Act A1642], which amends four provisions and nothing else: Article 1(2), Article 160(2), Article 161A(6)(a) and Article 161A(7).
established
Section 2 of Act A1642 substitutes a new Article 1(2): "The States of the Federation shall be— (a) the States of Malaya, namely, Johore, Kedah, Kelantan, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Penang, Perak, Perlis, Selangor and Terengganu; and (b) the Borneo States, namely, Sabah and Sarawak."
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Section 3(a) inserts into Article 160(2) the definition: "'Malaysia Day' means the sixteenth day of September, nineteen hundred and sixty-three".
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Section 3(b) substitutes the Article 160(2) definition of "the Federation", which now reads in part: "'the Federation' means the Federation that was first established under the Federation of Malaya Agreement 1957 and further pursuant to an Agreement concluded on the ninth day of July, nineteen hundred and sixty-three between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Federation of Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore, the Federation is called Malaysia with the Colonies of North Borneo and Sarawak and the State of Singapore federated with the existing States of the Federation of Malaya as the States of Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore in accordance with the constitutional instruments annexed thereto but under and by virtue of the Agreement relating to the separation of Singapore from Malaysia as an independent and sovereign State dated seventh day of August, nineteen hundred and sixty-five, Singapore has ceased to be a state of Malaysia."
established
Section 4 substitutes Article 161A(6)(a) so that a Sarawak native is "a person who is a citizen and belongs to one of the races specified by State law as indigenous to the State", and deletes Article 161A(7); the effect, as reported, is that native status for Sarawak is defined by state law rather than by the list previously carried in the Federal Constitution.
Constitution (Amendment) Act 2022 [Act A1642] · Amendment to Federal Constitution: Equal partner status for Sabah and Sarawak
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The enacted Act A1642 carries the same operative wording as the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2021 as tabled; the Bill was not amended in its substantive clauses between tabling and assent.
Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2021 · Constitution (Amendment) Act 2022 [Act A1642]
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The Bill's own Explanatory Statement describes clause 2 as restoring, "with modifications", the position of Article 1(2) as it stood at the formation of Malaysia in 1963, except for the reference to Singapore.
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Act A1642 does not use the words "equal partner", "region", "territory" or "status"; those terms come from political and commentary usage, not from the amending instrument.
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The Dewan Rakyat passed the Bill on 14 December 2021 by bloc vote with 199 MPs in support and none against; Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun said 21 MPs were absent.
Dewan Rakyat approves amendments to Constitution related to MA63 by more than two-thirds majority · Dewan Rakyat unanimously passes MA63 bill
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The vote was taken as a bloc vote divided into five blocs covering government and opposition MPs, and no MP present voted against.
Dewan Rakyat unanimously passes MA63 bill · Dewan Rakyat approves amendments to Constitution related to MA63 by more than two-thirds majority
established
The Dewan Negara passed the Bill on 23 December 2021 by bloc vote after the second and third readings: 49 senators voted in favour, none against, and five were absent. Senate president Rais Yatim said the bloc vote was used because Article 159 requires support from not less than two-thirds of the Senate's total membership at both readings.
Dewan Negara passes Bill to amend Federal Constitution as per MA63 provisions · Dewan Negara passes Bill to amend Federal Constitution to include MA63 provisions
established
The 199 votes exceeded the two-thirds of total membership that Article 159 requires for a constitutional amendment, which in a 222-seat Dewan Rakyat is 148.
No two-thirds majority for Bill to make Sabah · Dewan Rakyat approves amendments to Constitution related to MA63 by more than two-thirds majority
established
The Bill was tabled and wound up by Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, then Minister in the Prime Minister's Department for Parliament and Law.
End talk that MA63 is not valid: Wan Junaidi · Amendment to Federal Constitution: Equal partner status for Sabah and Sarawak
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The Act records its own date of Royal Assent as 19 January 2022 and its date of publication in the Gazette as 25 January 2022.
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Section 1(2) of the Act provides that it "comes into operation on a date to be appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong by notification in the Gazette", rather than immediately on assent.
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The amendments came into operation on 11 February 2022, which Wan Junaidi announced that day, saying the Yang di-Pertuan Agong had consented to their enforcement by Federal Gazette.
Amendments to federal constitution come into force Friday — Wan Junaidi · Amendment to Federal Constitution: Equal partner status for Sabah and Sarawak
established
A Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2019 seeking to change Article 1(2) was defeated in the Dewan Rakyat on 9 April 2019: 138 MPs voted in favour, none against, and 59 abstained, against the 148 needed.
No two-thirds majority for Bill to make Sabah · Malaysian lower house rejected constitutional amendment restoring status of Sabah and Sarawak
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Then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad described the 2019 Bill as "the first step in realising the wishes of the people of Sabah and Sarawak in line with MA63".
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Warisan-era federal minister Armizan Mohd Ali stated in November 2025 that the Article 1(2) amendment was first tabled in 2019 and failed to secure two-thirds, and passed only in December 2021.
Armizan: Warisan playing loose with facts on Sabah's constitutional status
uncertain
No authoritative named division record identifying every MP and party among the 59 abstentions on the April 2019 bill has been located; contemporaneous reporting establishes the total of 138 votes in favour, none against and 59 abstentions.
The Malaysian Insight · Parliament of Malaysia Digital Hansard
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The Article 1(2) that stood before 2022 — a single alphabetical list of all thirteen states, Sabah and Sarawak included — was substituted by the Constitution (Amendment) Act 1976 [Act A354], section 2, in force from 27 August 1976. The Attorney General's Chambers reprint records this in its own annotations to Article 1.
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The same AGC annotation records the pre-1976 text, as it stood after Act 26/1963 section 4 in force from 16 September 1963: "(2) The States of the Federation shall be— (a) the States of Malaya, namely, Johore, Kedah, Kelantan, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Penang, Perak, Perlis, Selangor and Terengganu; (b) the Borneo States, namely, Sabah and Sarawak; and (c) the State of Singapore." Paragraph (c) had been deleted by Act 59/1966, section 2, in force from 9 August 1965.
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Constitutional scholar Jaclyn L Neo described the 1976 provision as listing "all states within the federation under a single category in alphabetical order".
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On 18 October 2021 the Special Council on the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MKMA63), chaired by then Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, agreed to the proposed amendments to Article 1(2) and Article 160(2). Minister in the Prime Minister's Department for Sabah and Sarawak Affairs Maximus Ongkili said "The amendments would redefine the meaning of Federation," and that the proposal had been tabled by Wan Junaidi, who also headed the Council's Equal Status Working Committee.
MA63 Council agrees on amendment to restore Sabah and Sarawak as equal partners
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The four 2021 amendments were tabled on 3 November 2021.
Jaclyn L Neo · Armizan: Warisan playing loose with facts on Sabah's constitutional status
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Wan Junaidi said after passage that the federal government "can no longer say the demands of Sabah and Sarawak are not in line with the constitution or the law of Malaysia, thanks to these amendments", and that "this is just the first step".
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Sabah Chief Minister Hajiji Noor called the passage "momentous" on 15 December 2021 and said he expected it to lead to fuller restoration of Sabah's rights under MA63.
Sabah CM hopeful Federal Constitution amendment will lead to full restoration of state rights
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On commencement, Wan Junaidi's own emphasis was on leverage rather than nomenclature: "What we need we can demand because it is the constitutional provisions. That's the huge impact of the constitutional amendments to Sarawak and Sabah." He said the amendments would allow Sarawak to claim rights listed in the Inter-Governmental Committee Report 1962, and that negotiations on further amendments — including a fairer distribution of parliamentary constituencies between Sarawak, Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia — would continue.
Amendments to federal constitution come into force Friday — Wan Junaidi
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Asked on 11 February 2022 whether the amendments changed Sarawak's status from "territories" to states, Wan Junaidi said the matter would be decided by the State Legislative Assembly: "I leave it to the state to decide what they want in the spirit of the amendments so as to differentiate the status of Sarawak and other states in Peninsular Malaysia." DayakDaily reported the same answer as "The status of Sarawak, or how it will be called will be discussed later on by the State government."
Amendments to federal constitution come into force Friday — Wan Junaidi · Equal partner status: Sarawak will decide what it will be called within M'sia
uncertain
Further matters, including parliamentary representation and other MA63 claims, continued through separate negotiations and processes after the 2021 amendment; no single completed further constitutional-amendment package can be attributed to Wan Junaidi’s statement that negotiations would continue.
where accounts differ
The parts nobody agrees on
contested
The government that carried the Bill treated it as an equal-status measure. Wan Junaidi headed the MA63 Council's Equal Status Working Committee, which tabled the proposal in October 2021, and on 17 December 2021 he said "Sabah and Sarawak should now talk about equal status simply because we have already been given special status upon the formation of Malaysia back in 1963," adding that "what this amendment would do is give recognition to the special privileges of Sabah and Sarawak".
End talk that MA63 is not valid: Wan Junaidi · MA63 Council agrees on amendment to restore Sabah and Sarawak as equal partners
contested
Whether the amendment restored Sabah and Sarawak to equal-partner standing, or mainly restated a listing: DAP's Liew Chin Tong wrote on 15 December 2021 that "the blunder of 1976, also involving Sarawak BN, has now been corrected after 45 years", framing it as a restoration of the pre-1976 position.
contested
Constitutional scholar Jaclyn L Neo argued in November 2021 that the amendments were "hopeful first steps towards greater devolution, more equitable wealth distribution, and democratic empowerment", while questioning how far they would go. Writing before the Bill was passed, she said it remained unclear how the amendments would devolve further control to the states "in relation to their resource earnings and infrastructure development"; that resource allocation "will remain a significant point of contention, one that will not immediately be resolved by the proposed amendments"; that the changes were "symbolic gestures" that did not address the states' de facto autonomy over their political futures and the returns on their resources; and that the basis for the claim to one-third of federal parliamentary seats is "not strictly found in MA63".
contested
Parti Bumi Kenyalang president and lawyer Voon Lee Shan said on 13 February 2022 that "the amendments, by not giving one-third and another one-third seats out of 222 parliament seats for Sarawak and Sabah, are meaningless".
Parti Bumi Kenyalang: Constitutional amendments meaningless unless Sarawak
contested
Lawyer Simon Siah argued in April 2021, before the Bill was tabled, that amending the definitional articles alone was insufficient without decentralising decision-making power from the federal government and increasing Sabah and Sarawak's parliamentary representation.
contested
Whether Sabah and Sarawak are now "states" or something other than states remains disputed at federal level: Law and Institutional Reform Minister Azalina Othman Said told the Dewan on 26 November 2025 that MA63 and the Constitution define Sabah and Sarawak as states, citing the treaty's reference to "the States of Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore".
contested
Against that reading, Umno president and then Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said that "Sabah and Sarawak have been accorded the status of region and are no longer regarded as states within Malaysia". He said this in his policy speech to the 2022 Umno General Assembly, delivered at the Kuala Lumpur World Trade Centre on 13 January 2023 — not in December 2021, the date some later accounts give.
contested
Sarawak Premier Abang Johari Openg responded that such a change in status had not been gazetted, and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said the matter would have to be referred to the Conference of Rulers.
contested
Tambunan assemblyman Jeffrey Kitingan said on 29 April 2026 that the federal government had acknowledged the amendment "was to restore Sabah and Sarawak's status as territories equal in standing with Malaya in the formation of Malaysia", and pressed for the label "negeri" to be dropped in official usage.
established
The Act itself does not settle the naming question either way: it groups Sabah and Sarawak as "the Borneo States" in Article 1(2) but uses no word such as "region", "territory" or "equal partner". Both the equal-status reading and the "region" reading are arguments about what the grouping signifies, not quotations from it.
still being researched
- Whether any court has since interpreted the amended Article 1(2) or the new Article 160(2) definition of "the Federation" in a decided case.