Restoring 35% seat quota should be top priority, GRS leader tells Putrajaya

KOTA KINABALU: A Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) youth leader has urged the government to treat the restoration of Sabah and Sarawak's 35% quota of seats in the Dewan Rakyat as a top priority.

Rafie Robert, who is also Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) Sabah chapter Armada vice chief, said the matter was of national interest.

He said while it was up to the Election Commission to decide, it was another restoration of state rights in accordance with the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).

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“We must push this and make it happen for the interest of Sabahans and Sarawakians. The original spirit of the federation must be respected,” he said in a statement on Tuesday (Sept 13).

Rafie said the proposed restoration of the 35% quota will balance out the distribution of power among the regions that make up the federation, namely Peninsular Malaysia and the two Bornean states.

He also said it would empower Sabah and Sarawak to protect their interests in the federation.

“We’ve been fighting for our rights for so long. But we need the numbers to have more muscle,” he said.

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The quota restoration was among key issues discussed at the fifth MA63 Special Committee (MKMA63) meeting chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob in Putrajaya last Thursday (Sept 8).

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Sabah and Sarawak Affairs) Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili had said in a statement that the issue was deliberated and endorsed during the meeting.

But he said more engagement on the issue was needed, especially with serving Bornean legislators and legal practitioners.

Ongkili said that in 1963, Sabah had 16 seats, Sarawak 24, and Singapore 15, representing 35% of the overall 159 parliamentary seats, while the remaining 65%, or 104 seats, were in Peninsular Malaysia.

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So when Singapore left Malaysia in 1965, he added, the seats belonging to Singapore should have been given to Sabah and Sarawak to meet the 35% representation.

“This was a bold statement from Ongkili and all of us in the GRS state government congratulate him for that. This is our way forward if we truly respect the original spirit of the federation,” Rafie said.

He added that he also agreed with Sarawak Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg’s assertion that his insistence for Sarawak and Sabah to receive a third of the country’s parliamentary seats was to safeguard their interests at federal level.

While the current administration was fine, he said, however there was no telling if leaders at the federal level would have the same kind of spirit in future.

He feared that they could dissolve the MA63 by amending the Federal Constitution at will with the support of over two-thirds of the Dewan Rakyat.