KUCHING: The proposed increase in parliamentary seats for Sabah and Sarawak will be discussed further before any decisions are made, says Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof.
The Deputy Prime Minister said this was due to different legal opinions between the Federal Attorney General and the state attorneys general of Sabah and Sarawak.
"In principle, the Federal Government has agreed to consider increasing the number of seats in the Dewan Rakyat for Sabah and Sarawak.
"However, this requires further discussions and fine-tuning from a legal viewpoint," he told a press conference after attending the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) implementation action council meeting chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim at Kompleks Satria Pertiwi here on Friday (Sept 12).
Fadillah said the differences needed to be ironed out before a policy decision could be reached on the seat increase.
"Whatever decision is made has to be at policy level. After that, the Election Commission will conduct a study on the number of seats and areas involved.
"This is subject to the proper process," he said.
Fadillah said the parliamentary seat increase was one of four items discussed during the meeting.
He said two matters were resolved, involving scheduled waste management and the appointment of High Court judges in Sabah and Sarawak.
"On scheduled waste, an amendment to Article 95C of the Federal Constitution will be tabled in Parliament, likely in December, to empower Sabah and Sarawak to manage scheduled waste," he said.
He also said the Federal Constitution will be amended to provide for consultation with the Sabah and Sarawak Governors on the appointment of judges in both states.
On the proposal to move tourism from the Federal List to the Concurrent List under the Ninth Schedule of the Federal Constitution, Fadillah said this would be fine-tuned by the MA63 technical committee as there were various viewpoints on the matter.
He said other outstanding matters yet to be resolved under MA63 include education and health.
"These matters will continue to be discussed by the technical committee and working committees at ministry level for further action," he said.
