Govt to study proposal on one-third seats for Sabah, Sarawak

PARLIAMENT | Putrajaya will undertake a study on a proposal to increase Sarawak and Sabah's share of seats in the Dewan Rakyat to 35 percent.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said told Dewan Rakyat yesterday that once the study was completed, it will be evaluated by the cabinet.

"The study is expected to take some time because it involved amending laws, especially the Federal Constitution," she said.

Azalina added that the proposal would require amending Article 46 of the Federal Constitution.

Azalina (above) said this in a written reply to Ronald Kiandee (PN - Beluran) who asked if the government planned to increase the share of seats for Sabah and Sarawak to 35 percent, as stated in the Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) Report 1962 and Malaysia Agreement 1963.

Under Article 19(1) of the IGC, the territories of Sarawak, Sabah and Singapore were supposed to have a combined 35 percent of the seats in the Dewan Rakyat.

However, since Singapore's exit from Malaysia in 1965, that proportion was not adjusted. In September 2022, Putrajaya's Special Council on the Malaysia Agreement agreed to address this.

During the November parliamentary elections, Pakatan Harapan had promised to ensure 35 percent of MPs come from Sabah and Sarawak.

Meanwhile, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Special Functions and Sarawak and Sabah Affairs) Armizan Mohd Ali told Dewan Rakyat that Deputy Prime Minister Fadillah Yusof will chair a technical committee on a proposal to grant Sarawak autonomy over health and education.

Armizan explained that the request for such autonomy was a new issue presented to the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) Implementation Action Council inaugural meeting on Jan 20 in Kuching.

The action council will only deliberate on the matter after the technical committee completes the study, said Armizan. - Mkini