Define Malaysia as a federation of three regions, suggests Jeffrey Kitingan

KOTA KINABALU: The proposal to amend the Constitution in line with the Malaysia Agreement 1963 should consider identifying the three remaining Federation partners as regions, says Datuk Seri Panglima Dr Jeffrey Kitingan.

The Deputy Chief Minister proposed that the first paragraph of Article 1(2) of the Constitution should only mention Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.

“Following that, it can list the states of Peninsular Malaysia, the five residencies of Sabah and the six divisions of Sarawak,” he said in a statement after attending the second MA63 working committee online meeting.

Jeffrey explained that properly dividing Sabah and Sarawak would result in better economic growth and more equitable distribution of development funds.

The residency/division system was practised during colonial times when Sabah (then known as North Borneo) was divided into five residencies: Tawau (also known as East Coast Residency), Sandakan, West Coast, Kudat and Interior.

“Each residency is then subdivided into smaller administrative units, which includes districts and villages," he said.

Besides administrative issues, Jeffrey also wanted a fairer representation of Sabah and Sarawak in Parliament even though the issue is not explicitly stated in the Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) Report.

The Sabah STAR president and Keningau MP pointed out that in the beginning, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore accounted for approximately 35% of the number of MPs in Parliament.

After Singapore left the federation in 1965, the number of parliamentary seats in Sabah and Sarawak has barely been increased with most seats coming from Peninsular Malaysia.