THE Sarawak people are sceptical of the latest announcement by the Special Council on the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) that it had endorsed Sarawak and Sabah’s demand to restore 35% of the seats in parliament to the two states. 

“What further engagements are needed?” lawyer Francis Teron asked, following Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Sabah and Sarawak Affairs) Maximus Ongkili’s announcement last night. 

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob today gave his commitment to return the allocation to Sabah and Sarawak.

However, Ongkili said “more engagements” are needed among serving legislators and legal practitioners in the two states.

“I cannot make out what that is. If the parties don’t, or refuse, to understand the meaning of equal partnership, (then Malaysia should be dissolved),” Teron said, accusing the MA63 council of just playing to the gallery ahead of the general election.

Another lawyer, Sarawak PKR deputy chairman Abun Sui Anyit, said the endorsement that came with a caveat was mere lip service. 

“I don’t think this 35% or one-third of parliament seats for Sabah and Sarawak can be restored if the current Umno-BN (Barisan Nasional)-GPS (Gabungan Parti Sarawak) government is returned to power after the general election. 

“(They) have been given more than enough time to implement the original spirit of the MA63,” he said. 

Abun said the time for negotiation is over and that “all Malaysians should respect the framework and spirit of the MA63”. 

The announcement is not something that we should be happy with, pro-independence politician Voon Lee Shan said.

He said the increment will not help Sabah and Sarawak overturn any laws and policies passed by parliament and the federal cabinet. 

“The Sarawak government should reject the proposal made by the prime minister. If we are talking about partnership, it cannot be an unequal partnership if Malaysia wants to see progress and harmony in the future,” the president of Parti Bumi Kenyalang said. 

Voon said the announcement is an “election carrot to fish for votes by the prime minister to support his government”.

Sarawak-born political analyst Jayum Jawan said Ismail agreeing to Sarawak and Sabah’s demand for Putrajaya to comply with the terms of MA63 was due to the new political norm – that there would be no dominant party after the 2018 general election.

“That’s the reality. Any one party that wants to form the government needs to reach across many divides to form a majority,” he said, alluding to the possibility that peninsula-based parties and political blocs could, like they did during the 2020 political crisis, court Sarawak and Sabah parties to form a government in Putrajaya. 

Jayum said for the MA63 council to agree to restoring 35% of the seats to Sarawak and Sabah remains a “good move towards the restoration of a balance in the legislature”.

Jayum’s peer Awang Azman Awang Pawi said while the endorsement is welcome, there is stark silence on any sort of timeline. 

The Sarawak-born political analyst said it is necessary for the council to disclose when the move would take effect. 

Since there will be creations of new seats in the two territories, Azman warned there should be no gerrymandering or malapportionment in the delineation exercise. 

Sarawak lawmaker Fazzrudin Abdul Rahman, who sees the new development as part of the fulfilment of MA63, urged the Election Commission “to understand the need for the original proportion of MP seats for Sabah and Sarawak to be restored and take further action under Article 113 of the Federal Constitution”. 

“The redelineation of electoral boundaries must be performed to carve out more seats in both Sarawak and Sabah as there are some constituencies that are underrepresented despite their vast sizes.”

The GPS lawmaker said geographical factors and the distribution of natives must be taken into account as the allocation of seats should not be devised on population alone. 

In 1963, Sabah had 16 seats, Sarawak 24 and Singapore 15, representing 35% of the 159 seats in parliament then.

The idea then was to deny Malaya, which held the remaining 65% or 104 seats, the two-thirds majority it needed to pass laws.

When Singapore left Malaysia in 1965, its 15 seats should have been divided between Sabah and Sarawak, to maintain the 35% representation.

Lawmakers from the two states have since demanded the restoration of that percentage. – September 9, 2022.