Shafie: Sabah willing to work with Sarawak to increase representation in Parliament

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is ready to work with neighbouring Sarawak to increase the number of Parliament seats for the two Bornean states.

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal said he agreed with Sarawak's suggestion for a one-third representation in the Dewan Rakyat for its people, which was lost after Singapore left the Federation in 1965.

The 15 Parliament seats for Singapore were moved to Peninsular Malaysia, with Sabah and Sarawak not getting an increase in its representation, he told reporters after launching the Mesilou Food Production Park in the Kundasang highlands about 80km from here Saturday (July 16).

Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri James Masing on Friday urged Sabah to work with Sarawak to reinstate parliamentary representation for the two states to one-third in the 222-seat Dewan Rakyat.

Currently, Sabah has 25 parliamentary seats and Sarawak, 31, for a total of 56 seats. A one-third representation in Parliament would be 74 seats.

Shafie said there was also a need to have proper representation considering the large size of constituencies in the state.

"Population and size should be among the factors in increasing the seats," he said.

He added that Sabah's Kinabatangan parliamentary seat was almost the size of Pahang, which had 14 parliament seats, while Perlis, which had three parliamentary seats, was the same size as the Silam constituency in Sabah.

"There is definitely a need for more Parliament seats in Sabah and also Sarawak. We are ready to work with Sarawak on this matter," he said.

Shafie's Parti Warisan Sabah is in the Opposition at the federal level while Sarawak's Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) is working with the Perikatan Nasional government led by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin. - Star