KUCHING, Sept 9: Redelineation of electoral boundaries must be undertaken to carve out more parliamentary seats in Sarawak and Sabah as constituencies of larger sizes in the Borneo States are underrepresented, says chief political secretary to the Premier Fazzrudin Abdul Rahman.
He said the allocation of parliamentary seats should not be devised based on population alone but also consider geographical factors and the distribution of the native populations that are unique in Sarawak and Sabah.
This is in line with his proposal to the Election Commission (EC) for an even proportion of parliamentary seats for Sarawak and Sabah to be restored based on the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
He urged the EC to take further action under Article 113 of the Federal Constitution to concur with the recent announcement by the Special Council on MA63 (MKMA63) that endorsed the restoration of 35 per cent of parliamentary seats for East Malaysia.
The current arrangement in Parliament gives 166 out of 222 seats or 75 per cent to Peninsular Malaysia, while the remaining 56 seats or 25 per cent are divided between Sarawak (31) and Sabah (25).
Fazzrudin, also Tupong assemblyman, said this new development represents Sarawak and Sabah’s pursuit of one-third representation in the federal Parliament.
“This, to me, is important in terms of power-sharing between the parties that form the Malaysia Federation where Sarawak and Sabah must have a say in the laws being passed in Parliament.
“We must restore the statuses of Sarawak and Sabah as regional partners after the departure of Singapore in 1965 from our federation,” he said in a statement today. — DayakDaily
