Proposal for more seats to be raised in Sabah assembly, says Shafie

 

Warisan president Shafie Apdal said the parliamentary seats belonging to Singapore should have been allocated to Sabah and Sarawak when the city state left Malaysia in 1965.

TAWAU: Warisan has voiced its support for a proposal for Sabah and Sarawak to have one-third of the 222 seats in the Dewan Rakyat, bringing the total for the two states to at least 70 seats.

Warisan president Shafie Apdal, who is the Sabah opposition leader, said the proposal was in line with the 1963 Malaysia Agreement, and would be raised at the Sabah state assembly which begins tomorrow.

“In 1963, there were 159 parliamentary seats with one-third of them represented by North Borneo (Sabah), Sarawak and Singapore, as stated in the Inter-Governmental Committee Report.

“When Singapore left Malaysia in 1965, the seats belonging to Singapore should have been allocated to Sabah and Sarawak. Today there are 222 seats in Parliament. Sabah has 25 (seats) and Sarawak, 31 (seats) so in all, we have 56.

“Fifty-six seats for both states represent less than a third,” he said here today.

Shafie was asked to comment on the call by Sabah and Sarawak affairs minister Maximus Ongkili for both state assemblies to debate the proposal before it was submitted to the Election Commission.

Shafie, who is Semporna MP, said the additional seats would provide a balance of representation in the Dewan Rakyat. - FMT