By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, March 16: Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) has urged the Sarawak government to amend the Sarawak Constitution to prohibit or bar Malayan political parties from standing in elections in the State.
In a press statement today, PBK president Voon Lee Shan said that State elections should be State affairs and that political parties from Malaya should not interfere.
He explained that when a seat—State or parliamentary—is won by a Malayan-based political party like the Democratic Action Party (DAP) or Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), the seat is taken away from Sarawak, which he claims diminishes Sarawak’s bargaining power in Parliament.
He said when Malaysia was formed, it was never the people’s intention to invite or have political parties from Malaya come to Sarawak to contest for State or parliament seats.
“It was agreed that seats for Sarawak in Parliament are for Sarawak and have never been meant to be contested or taken away by political parties from Malaya. At the moment, Sarawak is allocated 31 seats while Sabah is allocated 25 seats,” he said.
“May a motion be passed in the coming sitting of the Sarawak Legislative Assembly to tell the august House and people of Sarawak that it was not in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 to allow political parties from Malaya to enter Sarawak and participate in the affairs of Sarawak.” — DayakDaily
