LABUAN: The Election Commission notice there will be no change to the existing number of parliamentary seats in Sarawak ahead of the coming general election does not reflect well on its supposed impartiality, according to a political activist here.
“Even the Prime Minister on a visit to Sabah earlier this year acknowledged the need for a more fairer representation of Sabah and Sarawak in parliament, which was heavily weighed against the Borneo territories ever since Singapore’s expulsion from the federation in 1965,” said activist George Elias.
“Failure to be fair and reasonable to the Borneo states following the Federal Government’s usurping of all Singapore’s 15 seats instead of redistributing them equally is an affront to the one-third arrangement under the Malaysia Agreement,” he said.
“Sabahans and Sarawakians will assume, rightly or wrongly, that the Election Commission is run by quarters with vested political interests whose loyalty lay with parties that recently bragged that Sabah and Sarawak will not be kingmakers in deciding the next federal government,” Elias said. Elias blamed successive leaders in the past, who he said were spineless for failing the people of Sabah by not demanding equitable parliament representation.
At present Sabah has 25 seats and Sarawak 31. Both States are seeking additional seats to achieve one third representation in the 222-member parliament, in line with the 2022 Federal Constitution amendment that reverted the status of the Borneo states to one among three components of the federation.
Following the Nomad air crash which claimed the lives of former Chief Minister Tun Fuad and 10 others on June 6, 1976, the administration of Prime Minister Tun Hussein Onn discreetly relegated the status of both states to that of equal to the other states in Malaya.
He also caused the passage of the Petroleum Development Act under which the petroleum reserves of both Borneo states were vested with Petronas, with just 5pc royalty in return.
Both decisions were heavily criticised by subsequent leaders in both states.
“However, since parliament now recognised both states as equal partners in the federation with greater autonomy, this anomaly in parliament representation must similarly be rectified,” he said.
He said the excuse by EC that Sabah constituencies lack the population threshold to qualify for extra seats is unacceptable as some Sabah and Sarawak constituencies are bigger than states in Malaya.
He said only with equitable one-third representation can the ideals envisaged during the formation of Malaysia by the founding fathers be achieved.
“It will also allow the Borneo states to be a more effective check and balance in terms of governance,” Elias said.
As it is now, unreasonable federal laws can be bulldozed due to lack of one-third representation.
It is understood that Sarawak decided to go ahead and table a motion for additional state seats in the State Legislative Assembly for the imminent Sarawak election when its earlier request to the EC on the matter went unheeded. It also requested for additional parliament seats.
“Sabah may also have to do what Sarawak did if the EC refuses to budge,” said Elias.
