Autonomy leads to empowerment. We work hard to maintain a balance between collaboration and cooperation and independence.
— Bobby Kotick, American businessman
I begin my column this week with five words Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Premier. Doesn’t that sound good? Or would Premier of Sarawak for short sound better?
In any case, it befits the status and name of Sarawak’s number one leader, Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg.
On March 1, Premier has now become the official term replacing Chief Minister and the Chief Minister’s Office is now known as the Office of the Premier of Sarawak following its gazettement.
Abang Johari’s deputies, Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan and Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian are known as Deputy Premiers.
Also, our Assistant Ministers are now known as Deputy Ministers — a change that is no less important.
Against this background, the Sarawak government has made good progress on its election pledge to seek the return of its eroded rights just a few months after being returned in the Sarawak state polls.
The impact of the change in title resonated nationwide — with journalists from neighbouring state Sabah prompting their own leaders, asking them whether it would emulate Sarawak to change its chief minister designation to premier.
With the dust settled, there are now growing calls for Sarawak and Sabah to finally ask for one-third representation in Parliament.
By right, the two East Malaysian states should make up one-third of Parliament to prevent the making of laws that are detrimental to their interests.
Technically — while it doesn’t appear that it will happen given the present political situation — if Malaya wants to pull a fast one against Sarawak and Sabah, technically, they can.
The Premier has called for this to be rectified a few years ago, during Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) stint as federal government in early 2020.
Abang Johari then said Sarawak had drafted its proposal for this to the Electoral Reform Committee (ERC).
He said that it is crucial for East Malaysia to be given more than a one-third representation for it to have a say in the decisions made in the Parliament.
“In terms of majority, Sarawak and Sabah must have more than one-third (representation), now it is less than that (25 per cent). The (more than) two-thirds representation must not be confined to Malaya,” he said in 2020.
The Premier, then, pointed out that with Singapore exiting the Malaysia Federation back in 1965, it meant the representation, which belonged to Sarawak and Sabah — Malaya’s partner in the federation — dwindled.
In August 2018, the ERC chaired by former Election Commission (EC) chairman Tan Sri Ab Rashid Ab Rahman was formed.
His committee was given two years to complete a report and give recommendations to the government for refinement of fair election management system.
But apparently, nothing came out of it.
Hulu Rajang MP Datuk Wilson Ugak Kumbong recently brought up the issue of the one-third representation in the august House this week. He said with Sarawak and Sabah only making up 56 parliamentary seats combined, it is a far cry from the one-third representation in Parliament.
“This is different from the spirit of Malaysia Agreement (1963) which emphasises the concept of equal partner, namely Sabah, Sarawak and Malaya during the formation of Malaysia,” he said.
One way of rectifying this is by further delineation of electoral boundaries — take Ugak’s Hulu Rajang parliamentary constituency — it is the largest in Malaysia, about the same size as the state of Pahang.
While Hulu Rajang has one MP and three state assemblymen, Pahang has 14 MPs and 42 state assemblymen.
While it is not an apple-to-apple comparison with Pahang being a full-fledged state, the point I’m making is this: Sarawak, with its land size is under-represented.
There are other areas in Sarawak, though not as vast as Hulu Rajang which are also under-represented.
I echo the call by Sibuti MP Lukanisman Awang Sauni whom I polled in 2020 that the delimitation of boundaries for parliamentary seats must be based on land size and the distribution of natives in Sarawak.
The allocation of seats to the Borneo states should not be devised on population alone, it must take the geographical factor into account.
Here’s hoping that this conundrum of ours can be resolved so we finally get what is due to us. I have full faith in our state leaders and parliamentarians that we will see this through.
