KOTA KINABALU: Sabah political figures have welcomed Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s pledge to increase East Malaysian representation in Parliament, but insist the announcement must be backed by concrete execution plans.
Anwar proclaimed the change after chairing the Malaysia Agreement 1963 Implementation Action Council (MTPMA63) meeting on Friday (Sept 11),
Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) Youth chief Datuk Christopher Mandut called on the Federal Government to outline specific seat allocations and implementation mechanisms.
He stressed that any redistricting must honour the spirit of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
“This announcement must now follow up with details of how many additional seats are to be set for Sabah and Sarawak, and the mechanism to go about it,” he added.
Meanwhile, MA63 activist and lawyer Mazliwati Abdul Malek Chua of Parti Warisan cautioned against determining new seats solely by population density.
Citing the Cobbold Commission Report, Mazliwati argued that parliamentary representation for Sabah and Sarawak was originally designed to account for geographical size and growth potential—ensuring the two states could not be easily outvoted by Peninsular Malaysia.
“We should look at the rationale behind the original arrangement, rather than using the ratio itself as the reasoning,” she stated.
She urged Putrajaya to preserve the constitutional safeguards established when the federation was formed.
