Give Sabah, Sarawak 45 parliamentary seats each
By Queville To, Free Malaysia Today
KOTA KINABALU: United Borneo Front (UBF) leader Jeffrey Kitingan has proposed an increase in parliamentary seats to 256 from the current 222 in tandem with the population increase in Sabah and Sarawak.
He said this was crucial to protecting the interest of states, in particular Sabah and its people.
He said currently Sabah and Sarawak held 25% of the parliamentary seats which was less than than ‘even a 1/3 right to vote.’
He views this as a deliberate attempt to stop Sabah and Sarawak leaders from having a voice in parliament and that in the event of a unity government happening in West Malaysia, the 25% is an “unconscionable percentage for equitable representation.”
“West Malaysian leaders can continue to erode our rights or pass laws which could be deemed to be oppressive against Sabah and Sarawak because there are a total of 166 West Malaysian seats out of the total 222, with only 56 seats for Sabah and Sarawak.
“That is 25% of the total. This stops us from having even a 1/3 right of veto. We can no longer go back to the equation used in 1963 because if we were to pitch our seats against population, we should have more than Sarawak as we now have a larger population than them.”
“UBF therefore proposes that we increase parliamentary seats to 256, leaving the 166 for West Malaysia and giving 45 seats each to Sabah and Sarawak.
“We should do this before the 13th general election,” he stressed. At present Sabah has 25 parliamentary seats while Sarawak has 31.
UBF to insist on 35% seats
Jeffrey pointed out that the continuous denying and suppressing of Sabah and Sarawak’s right to be heard in the parliament is tantamount to a breach of the federal government’s promises under Article 8 of the Malaysia Agreement that was signed in London in 1963.
