The restoration of the one-third allocation of parliamentary seats should not be a problem, says UNIMAS lecturer
KUCHING: Lecturer Dick Lembang Dugun of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) believes that the federal government under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has the political will to restore the one-third of parliamentary seats to Sarawak and Sabah.
He said the restoration should happen within the scope of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
He also noted that the Unity Government administration has already shown the political will to implement what has been agreed to under the MA63 since it came to power in 2022.
“So, the one-third or 35 per cent of total number of parliamentary seats should be no problem for them and can be done to ensure that the two Borneo states get what they want in Parliament,” he said when asked to respond to repeated calls by Premier Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Openg for the federal government to restore the one-third parliamentary seats.
Lembang said the combined small population of the two Borneo states when compared to that of Peninsular Malaysia, should not be taken into account to accommodate the one-third quota.
He said this is because Sarawak and Sabah were equal partners when the Federation of Malaysia was formed.
“Therefore, the two Borneo states should have better representation in Parliament than what they already have presently,” he said, referring to Sarawak with 31 and Sabah, with 25 seats in parliament.
Senior lawyer and a committee member of Rise of Social Efforts (ROSE) Ann Teo said it is far-fetched and improbable to suggest that Parliament can annul MA63.
“How could it be possible as MA63 has already been translated into constitutional amendments and incorporated into our Federal Constitution back then in 1963 not to mention other laws like Immigration?” she asked.
Teo said, furthermore, that MA63 is an international treaty, and asked if the sitting federal government would need to be prepared to go to international court.
She suggested reforming the Senate by increasing the representation of the two Borneo states to deny the two-thirds passage should future federal governments wish to amend the Federal Constitution such as “cancelling” any reference to MA63.
“Therefore, if there is a need to block any constitutional amendments to that effect, then we should consider the reform of the Senate,” she said.
She said according to Article 159 (3), all constitutional amendments (with exceptions) require at least two-thirds of the membership of the Parliament and Senate.
Teo said it is better to ask Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof, who is also the MA63 Action Council’s technical committee chairman, if the federal government is listening to the calls, not just from the Sarawak political leaders, but also from the non-governmental organisations (NGOs), for the one-third or 35 per cent seats in Parliament to be restored.
She mentioned that the Malaysian public has not been provided with any specific information regarding the proposal to potentially increase parliamentary seats by up to 35% for Sarawak and Sabah.
“Can the Sarawak premier reveal to us the concrete plan to get this ‘up to 35 per cent seats’ and what are the intended numbers or allocation for Sarawak, Sabah, and Malaya and how do we intend to get there?” she asked.
Historically, when the Federation of Malaysia was formed in 1963, Sarawak was allocated 24, Sabah, 16 and Singapore, 15 seats while Malaya was allocated 104 seats.
The combined number of seats for Sarawak, Sabah and Singapore was 35 per cent out of 159.
When Singapore left Malaysia in 1965, all its seats were not distributed to the two Borneo states, but to Malaya because it had a bigger population.
Presently, out of 222 seats, 166 or 75 per cent are held by Malaya while the remaining 56 seats or 25 per cent are held by Sarawak (31) and Sabah (25).
