A POSITION paper on the proposal to increase Sarawak and Sabah’s representation in parliament had been proposed to the federal government twice but it all came to nothing so far, according to Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali.
The deputy minister in the Premier’s Department (law, MA63 and state-federal relations) said the first proposal was made in August 2022 and the second in January last year.
Hasidah said the Sarawak government’s proposal for Sabah and Sarawak’s representation in parliament to be increased by up to 35% was first presented to the then Jawatankuasa Rakan Sekutu (committee of coalition partners) on August 23, 2022 during the Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob administration.
She said the meeting was chaired by the then law minister Tun Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar – now the Sarawak head of state.
She said before a decision could be reached, there was a change in the federal government.
“Following the change of the federal government, the Sarawak government continued to pursue the matter under the newly established Majlis Tindakan Pelaksanaan Malaysia Agreement 1963 – Malaysia Agreement 1963 Implementation Action Council – which was chaired by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim,” she told the Sarawak assembly sitting today.
The first meeting of the council was held on January 20 last year, she said when replying to a question from Telang Usan assemblyman Datuk Dennis Ngau, who asked about the status of the position paper during question time.
She said the council decided then that Sarawak’s proposal be further deliberated in the working committee headed by the Legal Affairs Division of the Prime Minister’s Department.
Hasidah then said the outcome of this meeting would then be presented at the upcoming technical committee meeting, which will be chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof.
She did not say when the meeting would be held.
“It is the Sarawak government’s highest hope that this demand can be fulfilled to ensure a balanced representation in the parliament in line with the spirit and original purpose of Malaysia’s formation in 1963 itself,” Hasidah said. – May 8, 2024.
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