KOTA KINABALU: Sabah and Sarawak’s push for 35% representation in the Dewan Rakyat is not about the desire to have more seats but a matter of rights being returned to the states, says a Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) leader.
Sabah Progressive Party's (SAPP) Yong Yit Jee said former Election Commission (EC) deputy chairman Datuk Seri Wan Ahmad Wan Omar missed the point when the latter seemed to suggest that fulfilling the quota was troublesome and unfair to Peninsular Malaysia.
Yong, who is also an SAPP supreme council member, said the seat restoration was in accordance with the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
“In other words, it concerns rights of the two Bornean regions,” he said, in a statement here Friday (Sept 16).
“He (Wan Ahmad) obviously missed the point. This is not about constituents’ boundaries or population. This is about restoring our rights in MA63 - they are two different things,” he added.
He was responding to Wan Ahmad who was quoted as saying in an Utusan Malaysia report on Tuesday (Sept 13) that Malaysia did not need additional parliamentary seats to the 222 it already has.
The former EC deputy chairman instead proposed that the EC re-delineates the boundaries to ensure a fair distribution of voters.
Wan Ahmad also said that restoring the 35% demanded by Sabah and Sarawak will reduce the Peninsular Malaysia seats, claiming that it was an “inappropriate, unwise and unfair” move for parliamentary constituencies in the peninsula.
This was because, he said, those who wanted additional seats were Sabah and Sarawak, and that this would only complicate matters in managing the boundaries.
Yong said that if the EC viewed that it was unnecessary to increase the existing 222 parliamentary seats, then the commission should take the required steps to ensure the 35% representation from Sabah and Sarawak was met.
“The original spirit of the federation must be respected.
“Sabah and Sarawak won’t have it any other way because this concerns rights under the MA63 on which Malaysia was formed.
“Restoring the 35% representation would balance out the distribution of power among the Bornean regions and the Peninsular Malaysia that make up the federation,” he said.
Towards this end, Yong said Sabah and Sarawak leaders have been fighting for the rights of the respective states as well as their people for a long time, adding this quota restoration would be seen as having bigger legislative muscles.
He said GRS government leaders have a united front in pushing this agenda.
“They see the restoration of the 35% representation to be what Sabah and Sarawak need to protect their interests in the federation.
“So, it’s all a numbers game. Either it’ll be additional seats to the existing 222 by amending the Federal Constitution or reducing the seats in Peninsular Malaysia.
“The people in Sabah and Sarawak want what’s rightfully ours to be returned.
“Therefore, I urge the EC to expedite the process and ensure that the 35% representation for Sabah and Sarawak in Parliament is restored so that our rights and interests can be protected,” Yong added.
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 on Sept 8.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Sabah and Sarawak Affairs) Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili had said that the issue was deliberated and endorsed during the meeting.
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.
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.
