Civil action groups support call for S’wak, Sabah, Labuan to be given over one-third Senate seats

Parliament of Malaysia (file pic). Photo credit: The Official Portal of Parliament of Malaysia

By DayakDaily Team

KUCHING, Sept 23: Rise of Social Efforts (Sarawak ROSE), Coalition for Clean and Free Elections (Bersih), Engage, and Tindak Malaysia support the call for Sarawak, Sabah, and Labuan to be given more than one-third of Senatorial seats.

In a joint press statement issued on Sept 21, the civil action groups said a specific proposal, ‘Dewan Negara 35/100’ was made by Project Stability and Accountability for Malaysia (Projek SAMA) on Malaysia Day and has received mixed reception.

“We see the demands for over-representation of East Malaysia in Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara as two closely linked but separate issues that deserve detailed scrutiny and rational deliberation,” they said.

They voiced that discussion on how Malaysia’s federalism can be enhanced should be done without assuming ill intent of opposing views, and acknowledge the context and considerations embedded in historical documents in the formation of Malaysia.

“In enhancing Malaysia’s federalism, the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) should be the floor, not the ceiling. We should aim to achieve the aspirations in MA63 and be prepared to go beyond MA63 on matters that receive consensus support across the South China Sea,” they said.

They elaborated that it is a common practice for federations to have a bicameral parliament—a type of legislature that is divided into two separate assemblies, chambers, or houses.

“The Lower House is to be elected on the principle of equality amongst citizens—’one person, one vote, one value’ (OPOVOV)—and exclusively tasked with government formation, functioning like the accelerator in a car.

“Functioning as the guardian of state interests and the brake to force deliberation, the Upper House is often elected on the basis of equality amongst states (hence over-representing less-populated states) and even over-representation of special states.”

They added that voters from Sarawak and Sabah voters form 17 per cent of the national electorate, and already enjoy 25 per cent of seats in the Dewan Rakyat.

They opined that further increasing it to 35 per cent violates international standards of OPOVOV, as achieving veto power through this method would be less democratic and would likely face political objections.

“As Dewan Rakyat is tasked with government formation, a 35 per cent over-representation for the 17 per cent East Malaysian voters means that a simple majority government can be formed with all East Malaysian parliamentarians and a mere 16 per cent more West Malaysian parliamentarians.

“That would be effectively an electorally minority-backed government with majoritarian power. Such a scenario is likely a recipe for political chaos that all Malaysians cannot afford to endure,” they said.

Therefore, the groups instead proposed reforming the Dewan Negara.

“Malaysians should remedy its peril by realising the reform which the constitutional drafters in 1957 had prepared its pathway in Article 45(4): an entirely elected Dewan Negara, which can legitimately vie for equal power as Dewan Rakyat to act as check and balance except for defeating budgets and ousting governments.

“The veto power for East Malaysia in Dewan Negara can even be established before the 16th General Election (GE16) by simply amending Article 45(1) to add senatorial seats for Sabah and Sarawak. The exact proportion of East Malaysian senators may be negotiated and decided upon cross-party consensus,” they said.

They said that as both the existing and additional Sabah and Sarawak senators would be elected by the State Legislatures (effectively appointed by the State governments) under the existing structure, they can collectively vote down any constitutional amendment that undermines the interests of East Malaysians.

However, they acknowledged that this reform would require thorough discussions and would likely take years to implement.

At the same time, they argued that advocates of ‘Dewan Rakyat 35%’ risk putting all their eggs in one basket, which is unlikely to be realised by GE16 as the proposal would need to go through three stages:

1. A consensus within the Madani government on the allocation of seats for all states and federal territories in Article 46.
2. The constitutional amendment in Parliament which would be scrutinised by the Opposition.
3. Constituency delimitation, which starts immediately after the amendment of Article 46 but may take two years to complete.

They said that unless newer and more concrete proposals are mooted, the sole proposal so far is by Datuk Roger Chin, former President of the Sabah Law Society, to retain Dewan Rakyat’s 222 seats but transfer 21 seats from West Malaysia to Sabah and Sarawak.

They added that no Malayan states would willingly concede their seats, thereby making the realisation of Sarawak and Sabah’s veto power contentious, acrimonious, and unlikely to materialise.

“This all-or-nothing approach is detrimental to prospects of achieving veto power for Sarawak and Sabah.

“By contrast, a simple addition of senatorial seats to Sarawak and Sabah can result in an immediate attainment of veto power in a prospectively elected and empowered Senate, which will also simultaneously strengthen Malaysia’s federalism in the long run.” — DayakDaily