KOTA KINABALU: A Malaysian senator has criticised former Election Commission (EC) deputy Chairman Wan Ahmad Wan Omar for saying parliamentary seats should not be allocated based on the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
Datuk Nelson W Angang, a member of the Dewan Negara, said the agreement was the very foundation of Malaysia’s formation.
“The very foundation of this country we call Malaysia lies in MA63,” he said, noting that the Cobbold Commission and Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) Reports had documented Sabah and Sarawak’s concerns about Malaya gaining a two-thirds majority in parliament.
He added that the original distribution of seats was not only based on population but also the vast size and potential of the Borneo states.
Nelson also highlighted electoral imbalances, pointing to Banggi with 311,499 voters compared with Lenggong (36,950) and Padang Rengas (38,686) in 2023. “I cannot see this as ‘more or less the same’ under any definition,” he said.
He described Wan Ahmad’s remarks as troubling, given his former senior role in government, and urged more awareness among federal civil servants of MA63’s historical significance.
“I sincerely hope this is only his personal view and not reflective of the EC’s official stance,” Nelson said, stressing that the commission is entrusted with respecting the original one-third seat allocation formula agreed in 1963.