Dewan seats formula is about protection, says MA63 expert

Sabah and Sarawak say they should be given one-third of the parliamentary seats to safeguard their constitutional rights.

KOTA KINABALU: An activist on the Malaysia Agreement 1963 has disputed a lawyer’s contention that the number of parliamentary seats allocated to Sabah and Sarawak should be based on population sizes.

The activist, Zainal Ajamain, said the division of parliamentary seats was clearly stated in the Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) Report 1962.

“In the original formula, the distribution of seats was 65% to Malaya, and a combined 35% for Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore,” he said. “The same formula should have been been maintained when Singapore left Malaysia in 1965.”

Sarawak and Sabah have called on Putrajaya to allocate one-third of the seats in the Dewan Rakyat to the two states. At present there are 31 MPs from Sarawak and 25 from Sabah in the 222-member house.

Zainal said the 1962 inter-governmental committee recommended that the number of seats would be determined based on the size of land and “the economic potential” of the region.

Sabah opposition leader Jeffrey Kitingan agreed that delineation of seats in the Borneo states should not only be based on population but the size and economic potential of Sabah and Sarawak

MA63 activist Zainal Ajamain.

“If the Malaysian partnership is to be fair based on the IGC Report, the seat ratio should be Malaya 50%, Sarawak 30% and Sabah 20%,” he said.

Zainal said the original formula was to provide protection to Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore should they need to veto laws that were detrimental to their own states.

“The combined strength of the Borneo states plus Singapore gave the right of veto against amendments or legislation of Acts of Parliament,” he said.

After Singapore left, Sabah and Sarawak could not ask for the 15 seats previously held by island state as it was not until 1969 that the Borneo states would have representation in Parliament, Zainal said.

But lawyer Bastian Pius Vendargon said an allocation of one-third of the seats was not realistic as both states, though relatively big, are not densely populated.

Vendargon said this will result in a distortion of the proportionate representation between the Bornean states and the peninsula, and the value of one man one vote would not be equal as MPs in the peninsula represent larger electorates.

In Kuching, Sarawak, a party leader has taken issue with Dewan Rakyat speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof for saying it will be difficult to give Sarawak and Sabah one-third of the parliamentary seats.

Sarawak United Peoples’ Party youth chief Michael Tiang said described the Speaker’s comment as “just a lame excuse” by the Pakatan Harapan government.

Tiang said the issue was about giving veto power to the two states to safeguard their constitutional rights.

Ariff had said earlier today an amendment to the Constitution was needed to allocate one-third of seats to East Malaysia, with electoral boundaries would have to be redelineated.

He also said population sizes must be taken into account. -FMT