KUCHING, Feb 9: PBB information chief Datuk Idris Buang has called on Dewan Rakyat speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof to honour Sabah and Sarawak’s request for one-third allocation of seats in the Dewan Rakyat.
Idris was responding to Mohamad Ariff’s statement yesterday that it will be difficult to give Sarawak and Sabah one-third of the parliamentary seats.
Mohamad Ariff had also asserted that an amendment to the Constitution was needed to allocate one-third of seats to East Malaysia, and electoral boundaries would have to be redelineated, adding that population size must also be taken into account.
At present there are 31 MPs from Sarawak and 25 from Sabah in the 222-member house.
“Mohamad Ariff should honour the request which is in line with the spirit of Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), The Cobbold Commission and Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) Report 1962. If there is a will, there is a way. Nothing is impossible, no matter how difficult it is to implement,” according to Idris in a statement.
He also opined that if this is the attitude of those who are in power and in the position of trust to see through the terms of MA63, the Cobbold Commission and IGC Report then the opposition (in Sarawak and Sabah) are at the disadvantage. — DayakDaily
