Concrete steps needed to allocate one-third of parliamentary seats to Sabah, Sarawak

KUCHING: The Madani government must back its commitment to allocate one-third of parliamentary seats to Sabah and Sarawak with concrete action, says Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) senior lecturer Dr Ahi Sarok.

The political analyst said implementing this allocation requires a constitutional amendment, as the Federal Constitution currently sets the number of parliamentary seats for Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah, and Sarawak.

“To pass a bill proposing additional electoral constituencies, a two-thirds majority in both the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara is required. This process is constitutionally mandated,” he said when contacted.

According to Ahi, under the Article 103 of the Federal Constitution, redelineation must adhere to specific procedures.

“Any amendments to the boundaries of parliamentary or state constituencies must also meet constitutional requirements, including facilities for candidate nominations, voting centres, and related infrastructure in proposed new electoral areas.”

Ahi outlined several steps essential for implementing this seat increase.

First, he said, a formula must be developed to determine how many additional seats would be allocated to Sabah and Sarawak.

Secondly, the Election Commission (EC) should conduct engagement sessions with local political parties to identify potential locations for the new parliamentary seats.

“The feedback from these sessions would enable the EC to identify proposed names for new parliamentary constituencies.

“For example, a proposed constituency for the Bidayuh area could be ‘Mayang’, covering areas like P198 Puncak Borneo, with the state seats of Serembu and Mambong, N20 Tarat and N23 Bukit Semuja in Serian, as well as N21 Tebedu and N22 Kedup.”

Additionally, he suggested that the Legal Affairs Division under the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) could partner with public universities to fund research on redelineation.

He also proposed that the government could amend the constitution to allow for the appointment of Members of Parliament, mirroring practices in the Sabah State Legislative Assembly.

“These steps are practical actions the Madani government could undertake, with the necessary political will, to fulfill the demand for one-third of parliamentary seats for Sabah and Sarawak.”