THE Sarawak government will continue to pursue and fight for Borneo’s bigger representation in Parliament.
Deputy Minister in the Premier Department (Law, MA63 and State-Federal Relations) Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali said it is the state government’s highest hope that this demand can be fulfilled to ensure a balanced representation in Parliament in line with the spirit and original purpose of Malaysia’s formation in 1963 itself.
She also said the state government has proposed to the federal government additional seats of up to 35 per cent for Sabah and Sarawak’s representation in the House of Representatives.
“A proposal paper for the increased number of seats for Sarawak representatives in Parliament was presented to the then Jawatankuasa Rakan Sekutu (JKRS) on Aug 23 in 2022 chaired by the then Minister for Law.
“Following the change in the federal government, the state government continued to pursue the matter under Majlis Tindakan Pelaksanaan Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MTPMA63) chaired by the Prime Minister.
“The first meeting of MTPMA63 was held on Jan 20 last year and it was decided that this matter be further deliberated in the working committee lead by Legal Affairs Division of the Prime Minister’s Department,” she said in response to a question by Telang Usan assemblyman Datuk Dennis Ngau on the third day of the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting today.
Sharifah Hasidah said the working committee had met twice, and the proposal paper was again presented and deliberated on, adding that the outcome of the meeting will be presented at the upcoming Technical Committee Meeting which will be chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof.
“While I cannot precisely say when we will achieve this, however as I have mentioned before we (the state government) will always continue to pursue and fight for our rights as long as there are stars and moon in the sky,” she said.
