Govt to table bill to increase 13 Sabah state seats

PARLIAMENT | The government is expected to table a bill that will increase Sabah's state seats from 60 to 73 by the current Dewan Rakyat sitting.

The bill is being listed at item number five in the House's Order Paper today.

According to the Order Paper, the parliamentarians also received two relevant reports on Sabah's redelineation exercise.

They are The Redelineation Exercise Review Report 2017 and Federal Constitution Order (Redelineation Exercise In Sabah) 2019.

On Aug 9, 2016, the Sabah State Legislative Assembly passed the amendment to Article 14(2) of the state constitution, to increase 13 state seats.

The Election Commission then submitted the proposed 13 additional Sabah state seats to the then Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who did not table it in Parliament.

It was reported in December 2018 that Sabah Chief Minister Shafie Apdal would bring the matter up again to the Election Commission (EC) and the prime minister.

This will see an additional six Muslim-majority, two non-Muslim Bumiputera majority and one Chinese-majority seats in Sabah. The remaining four are mixed seats.

The proposed Muslim-majority seats are Pintasan (under Kota Belud parliamentary constituency), Tanjung Dumpil (Putatan), Pantai Dalit (Tuaran), Sungai Manila (Libaran), Lamag (Kinabatangan) and Kukusan (Kalabakan).

The two non-Muslim Bumiputera majority seats are Dambai (Papar) and Tulid (Pensiangan). The four mixed seats are Bengkoka (Kudat), Darau (Sepanggar), Telupid (Beluran) and Mengaris (Kota Marudu).

The sole new Chinese-majority seat proposed is Segama in Silam. - Star