KUCHING: True equality means Sabah, Sarawak and Malaya should get one third of everything, said political analyst Datuk Peter Minos.
This should apply in terms of national revenues, civil service, police, military, judiciary, entry to colleges, universities and other opportunities, he said.
He said currently Malaya (Peninsular Malaysia) still dominates parliament hence this is a bit of a sore point. Minos opined that it is good if Sarawak and Sabah get 35 per cent or 78 MPs out of 222 total MPs in the Dewan Rakyat.
“We welcome it. We hope this will “jadi” or actualise because more MP seats for Sabah and Sarawak means more say for the East Malaysians.
“That will create more clout for Sabah and Sarawak if we are united. If my memory does not fail me, Sabah and Sarawak are supposed to be constitutionally equal to Malaya,” he added.
Minos added that the Dewan Rakyat makes laws and so the more seats Sarawak and Sabah have in parliament the better as the two states will have more say and more clout in the country.
He said logically Sabah, Sarawak and Malaya ought to have one third each in the number of MPs in parliament. “Sabah and Sarawak have a very long way to go to be equal to Malaya,” he said.
Minos added that if Sarawak gets one third of Petronas’ gross profit for instance then this is really something and Sarawak will be moving, improving and prospering.
But in the present instance, he said Sarawak has to ask, plead and even beg for every ringgit from Petronas. He said actually Sarawak gets only some crumbs, adding this is the kind of attitude towards Sarawak the state takes exceptions to.
