KUCHING: Increasing the parliamentary seats for Sabah and Sarawak to one-third of the total is essential for balancing legislative power in Malaysia, according to Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Bawang Assan branch chairman Senator Robert Lau.
However, he pointed out that suggestions to redistribute existing seats to Borneo are neither practical nor politically feasible.
He explained that to achieve the one-third representation in Parliament, new seats would need to be created.
“Procedurally, the process of seat creation must begin with the Election Commission, which would be tasked with conducting a delineation exercise under Article 113 of the Federal Constitution,” Lau told the Sarawak Tribune.
Once the delineation is completed, the proposal must be presented to Parliament for a constitutional amendment to incorporate the additional seats.
“The final and most important step is to present it to Parliament to amend the constitution by adding the new seats. This will require two-thirds support of both the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara,” he added.
Commenting on the federal government’s stance, Lau stated he could not speculate, but noted that increasing seats was a promise made to Sabah and Sarawak upon joining Malaysia.
“I can’t say what the federal government’s view on this is, except that this was a promise made and needs to be honoured,” he said.
Lau stressed that fulfilling this promise is important for both Sabah and Sarawak, as it was made to convince them to be part of Malaysia.
He also stated that it remains the only safeguard to prevent unilateral constitutional amendments by Malaya.
