KOTA KINABALU – The Borneo states must hold at least 35% of the seats in Parliament to protect their rights and special privileges, said Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan tonight.
His remarks come in support of Sarawak’s Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Syeed Aman Ghazali who made the call yesterday. Sharifah’s portfolio includes law, the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) and state-federal relations.
Kitingan, who is Sabah Star president and Keningau MP, said his party has made similar calls before while still in the opposition. He said that the party remains focused on pursuing the matter until it is met.
“In fact, this had also been the party’s manifesto. We will not relent in our demand for this right and the restoration of our veto power in the august house,” he said.
Kitingan said that as a member of the working committee for MA63, he needs to ensure that this is part of the critical rights which must be restored for Sabah and Sarawak.
Sabah currently holds 25 federal seats while Sarawak occupies 31 seats in the 222-seat lower house.
On February 1, constitutional expert Professor Datuk Shad Saleem Faruqi had said that the Borneo states were denied fair distribution of seats in the Dewan Rakyat.
The proportion of MPs from both states is less than the 33% envisaged for Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore in 1963.He noted this was meant to act as a safeguard against amendments requiring two-thirds majority which might affect both states.
“But with Singapore’s separation (in 1965), Sabah and Sarawak have only 24% representation in the Dewan Rakyat.
“If the Borneo states had 33% representation, they could have blocked any constitutional amendment which might affect the two states, but with the current situation now, they can’t do it,” he said.
Further to this, he said Article 161E(2) clearly states that in some matters, no amendments shall be made to the state constitution without the concurrence of the heads of states of Sabah and Sarawak.
Sadly, amendments have been passed, and the federalisation of some critical state matters has taken place such as that on water (Malaysia Act or Act 26/1963) and tourism (Act A885).
There was also the amendment to Article 121(1), which emasculated the powers of the High Court of Borneo in 1988, and transferred the power of the governors to appoint judicial commissioners to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong in 1994 – as seen in Robert Linggi v Government of Malaysia.
Further, the naturalisation of thousands of irregular migrants such as in Sabah’s case, which is in violation of Article 19’s requirements of naturalisation, has destroyed the special rights of the Borneo states over immigration, said Shad. – The Vibes, February 21, 2022
