KUCHING: Parliamentary seats should be evenly distributed between Sabah, Sarawak, and Peninsular Malaysia, with each region allocated one-third of the seats.
Fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia and Adjunct Professor at UNIMAS’ Borneo Research Institute, Prof Dr Jayum Jawan, stated that current representation in Parliament is unbalanced, with Peninsular Malaysia holding 164 seats (74.3 per cent) compared to Sabah’s 25 seats (11.7 per cent) and Sarawak’s 31 seats (14 per cent).
Thus, he said, the concept of checks and balances would not exist if Sabah and Sarawak only claimed one-third of the seats, as this still leaves a smaller representation compared to Peninsular Malaysia.
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Instead, he suggested that the three regions should each be granted an equal number of seats, as Malaysia consists of three regions – Sabah, Sarawak, and Peninsular Malaysia.
“The demand should be for equal percentages for all three regions which is one-third for Sabah, one-third for Sarawak, and one-third for Peninsular Malaysia,” he said when contacted.
Dr Jayum also viewed that a committee should be established, representing all ethnic communities in Sarawak, to discuss and voice their views on this demand.
He also noted that a special royal commission is essential to coordinate the process, which should be free from political influence and include unbiased representation.
“Political parties currently have their own agendas, with some groups overly politicising this issue.
“There is a clear conflict of interest when the same political group is represented from the group that appears to make demands while the other group represents the federal authority to resolve the issue,” he said.
Regarding sentiments from Peninsular Malaysia, he said, the issue doesn’t arise because they were not part of Malaysia’s formation.
He clarified that the nine Malay states and two Straits Settlements form one representation in the overall process.
As such, Jayum believed that an equal distribution of parliamentary seats would respect the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
“This aligns with the original intent expressed during negotiations between Malaysia’s founding fathers, including Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tun Abdul Razak, Tun Temenggong Jugah and Datu Bandar Abang Mustapha (Sarawak), and Donald Fuad Stephen and Tun Datu Mustapha Harun (Sabah),” he said.
