By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Sept 29: Former Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Azhar Azizan Harun’s conclusion that there is no legal basis for Sabah and Sarawak to claim one-third of the total number of parliamentary seats is “simply fallacious and sadly wrong”.
According to Sarawak Assemblyman Deputy Speaker Datuk Idris Buang, Azhar has lost sight of the whole picture preceding the formation of Malaysia starting from the Recommendations of the Cobbold Commission and the ensuing Intergovermental Commitee Report (IGC Report) upon which the very spirit of Malaysia’s existence is inextricably based on.
He explained that the IGC Report which is incorporated in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) by virtue of its Article VIII, and the fact that MA63 is now part of the Federal Constitution by virtue of the 2022 amendments made to its Article 160 together provide the “legal basis” for all the claims by Sarawak and Sabah.
“As we all know, the IGC Report was made pursuant to the recommendations of the Cobbold Commision in order to structure the framework of the Malaysian Constitution to include the interest and safeguards of the Borneo States.
“The spirit of the formation of Malaysia, in as far as the Borneo States are concerned, was inextricably cemented by the emphasis made by the Cobbold Commission that they should be ‘equal partners’ to Malaya. They should not be ‘dominated’ by Malaya .
“The Cobbold Commission would not allow Malaya to dominate absolutely. It is in this respect that the seats in Parliament was increased from 104 to 159 of which 26 was allocated to Sarawak, 15 to Sabah, 15 to Singapore (which gives the total number of seats for Singapore and the Borneo States at 55, which was 35.48 per cent,” said Idris in a statement today.
On the seats in Parliament, he said the IGC Report (Para 19 to be read with Para 25 ) in particular says :
“Article 46 (1) should be amended to increase the number of elected members of the House of Representatives from one hundred and four to one hundred and fifty-nine (including the fifteen proposed for Singapore). Of the additional members sixteen should be elected in North Borneo and twenty-four in Sarawak. The proportion that the number of seats allocated respectively to Sarawak and to North Borneo bears to the total number of seats in the House should not be reduced (except by reason of the granting of seats to any other new State) during a period of seven years after Malaysia Day without the concurrence of the Government of the State concerned, and thereafter (except as aforesaid) shall be subject to Article 159 (3) of the existing Federal Constitution (which requires Bills making amendments to the Constitution to be supported in each House of Parliament by the votes of not less than two-thirds of the total number of members of that House).”
“Why was this stipulated in such a manner? The keywords are ‘should not be reduced’. This is to reflect the emphasis by the Cobbold Commission which underscores the aforesaid spirit of formation of Malaysia that the Borneo States should not be subjected to any domination by Malaya. It is a form of safeguard to the interest of the Borneo States in terms of not exposing themselves to any form of domination or subjugation whether political or otherwise.”
Idris who is also Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) supreme council member said when Singapore exited, the 15 parliamentary seats allocated to Singapore were all taken up by Malaya states which are not “new” states as required by Para 19(2).
He stressed that the taking up of the 15 seats by the Malayan states were carried out without the consent from the Borneo States of Sarawak and Sabah.
“To me that is clearly contravening the true intent of Para 19(2) of the IGC Report . Therefore, not only there is legal basis (for Sarawak and Sabah to claim one-third of parliamentary seats), there is also a moral and ethical obligation in the name of fairness and honesty that the Borneo States should be truly accorded the ‘equal-partner’ status and not otherwise.
“In order to give meaning to that and to ensure the proper equitable sense of balance so as to to avoid any ‘domination’ by Malaya, , it should therefore be given the ‘at least one-third of the total seats in the federal Parliament’.
“As equal partners, the Borneo States has been ‘in perpetuum fidelis’ (forever loyal or faithful) to the nation of Malaysia,” said Idris.
He was responding to Azhar who had dismissed claims that Sabah and Sarawak are entitled to hold 35 per cent of parliamentary seats, describing it as a “political narrative” not grounded in law or historical documents. —DayakDaily
