KUCHING: The unity government under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has a two-thirds majority in the Parliament, which is sufficient to pass any necessary constitutional amendments.
Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) political scientist Prof Datuk Dr Jayum Jawan said it is unlikely that Sabah and Sarawak’s demand for over 30 per cent of seats in Parliament, would be ‘the most difficult thing’.
“How could this demand be the most difficult when the unity government has enough support to amend the constitution to increase the seats for Sabah and Sarawak?
“I think the main question should be whether they (federal government) want or don’t want to do it or share the seats,” he said.
Speaking to New Sarawak Tribune, he said the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) must push harder for Sarawak and Sabah to receive 35 per cent or one-third of the country’s parliamentary seats, in tandem with the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), to prevent further delay in fulfilling this demand.
He believed if GPS continues to pursue the matter aggressively, it will definitely work as Anwar still needs the support of Sarawak, to ensure the unity government remains intact.
Jayum, who is also the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM) Fellow, said Sarawak deserves to be given more seats or one third of the total parliamentary seats as Sarawak is one of the three regions that formed Malaysia. Similarly, Sabah should get more seats too.
“This is good when it comes to managing the country as it ensures equal negotiation power and promotes greater tolerance; as none (single region) either Sabah, Sarawak or Peninsula, will be able to force things (pass any law) to happen,” he explained.
Apart from that, he said with the increase of seats, it could also change the political landscape in Sarawak, where more Dayak leaders would be elected as the Members of Parliament.
He said this is because the Dayaks form about 45 per cent of Sarawak’s multi-racial population of nearly two million.
Meanwhile, political analyst Dr Lee Kuok Tiung of Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) also disagreed that the demand for Sabah and Sarawak to be allocated more than 30 per cent of the seats in Parliament is ‘the most difficult thing’ in the MA63 negotiation.
“I don’t understand why such a demand could be the most difficult thing as re-delineation is a normal process; for instance, to create new electoral boundaries and to increase the parliamentary seats for Sabah or Sarawak.
“Yes, it involves constitution amendments, however, it is part of the process; just like how it was done when the country introduced the anti-hopping law and lowered the voting age from 21 to 18,” he said.
Lee said it is important to ensure Sabah and Sarawak are allocated one-third of the parliament seats to better protect the interests and rights of the two regions.
As such, he said, any important laws or policies cannot be passed without support from Sabah and Sarawak.
On Sunday, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof regarded the demand for Sarawak, together with Sabah, to be allocated over 30 per cent of seats in Parliament, as ‘the most difficult thing’.
However, he assured that GPS would continue all negotiations and discussions on the demands for Sarawak’s rights.
