By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, July 18: Gabungan Parti Sarawak’s (GPS) push to increase Sarawak Assembly seats is not a “population game” but a vital political safeguard to strengthen Sarawak’s voice in defending its rights and influence in national policymaking.
Political secretary to the Premier of Sarawak, Kua Jack Seng, emphasised this in rebutting Pending assemblywoman Violet Yong’s claims that increasing parliamentary seats only requires constitutional amendment and has nothing to do with Sarawak State seats.
Kua, who is also Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) Engkilili Branch chairman, described her comments as “misleading and dangerously simplistic”, cautioning that such views disregard the foundational principles of Malaysia’s federal structure.
“As a lawmaker, Yong should understand that Malaysia’s federal structure is not merely governed by technical procedures, but by foundational agreements and structural balance, most notably the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63),” he said in a statement today.
He pointed out that MA63 intended for Sarawak and Sabah, the Borneo states, to hold at least one-third of all parliamentary seats, which is a critical safeguard to prevent unilateral dominance by Peninsular Malaysia.
He stressed that this was never meant to be a numbers game tied to population size but a deliberate constitutional mechanism to protect the Borneo states’ influence in federal decisions.
Yong had earlier criticised GPS’ move to increase Sarawak’s State seats from 82 to 99 through an overdue redelineation exercise, alleging it was a political manoeuvre to entrench power by under-representing urban areas. She also argued that the addition of parliamentary seats only requires constitutional amendments, independent of State seat adjustments, citing historical precedents.
Kua dismissed this view as ignoring the broader constitutional context, noting that every amendment to Article 46 of the Federal Constitution, which governs parliamentary seat distribution, alters the power dynamics in Parliament.
“Without restoring the original one-third representation for Sarawak and Sabah, every new parliamentary seat only dilutes our representation and weakens our voice in national policymaking,” he said.
He added that parliamentary seat allocation cannot be detached from State-level representation.
“While technically separate, both are part of a broader ecosystem that balances regional and federal authority. Any increase in parliamentary seats must therefore be holistic and guided by constitutional principles, not political expediency,” he stressed.
Kua emphasised that the redelineation of State seats forms the basis for equitable parliamentary representation and is part of a wider effort to restore Sarawak’s rightful standing as a founding partner in Malaysia, not a subordinate entity.
“Sarawak deserves better than representatives who echo narratives from Malaya without defending our rightful place in the federation. We must insist that any increase in parliamentary seats come with the restoration of Borneo’s one-third share, in the spirit of MA63,” he said.
He urged Yong to stop misleading the public, reminding that “Sarawak is not a passenger in Malaysia, we are a founding partner.” — DayakDaily
