KOTA KINABALU: Sabah and Sarawak must hold not less than 35% of the parliamentary seats to protect the rights and particular privileges of each states, says Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan.
The Sabah STAR president mentioned the share of the seats allotted to Singapore earlier than it left the Federation needs to be the justification for Sabah and Sarawak to be given extra seats.
Currently, Sabah has solely 25 seats whereas Sarawak has 31 for a complete of 56 or 25% of the entire 222 parliamentary seats.
In the 1964 General Election, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore had 55 seats out of 159 parliamentary seats, for a mixed 35% of the entire seats.
“In Sabah, this illustration is exacerbated by the truth that the bulk of the seats are held by Peninsular Malaysia-based events,” mentioned Kitingan.
“Can we be sure that our constitutional rights shall be safeguarded after we know that MPs are obliged to vote in accordance to their celebration’s stance on points even when they have an effect on Sabah and Sarawak?” he added.
The Deputy Chief Minister mentioned he subsequently supported the place taken by the Sarawak authorities, which mentioned they may proceed to demand one-third of the parliamentary seats as enshrined within the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
Kitingan mentioned Sabah STAR has at all times demanded this even earlier than it got here to energy and can proceed to accomplish that till its mission is accomplished.
“In truth, this has additionally been included within the celebration’s manifesto. We won’t relent in our demand for this proper and the restoration of our veto energy within the august House,” he mentioned.
Kitingan mentioned as a member of the Working Committee for MA63, he’ll be sure that this demand is prioritised as one of the crucial rights that must be restored to Sabah and Sarawak.
