Don blasts proposal to up Sarawak, Sabah representation in Senate instead of Parliament

KUCHING: Political analyst Prof James Chin have rejected Project SAMA’s and other Malayan-based non-governmental organisations’ (NGOs) suggestion that Sabah and Sarawak should be allocated 35 per cent of the seats in Dewan Negara rather than Dewan Rakyat.

The leading scholar of contemporary Sabah and Sarawak said this proposition is yet another evidence of Malaya-based organisations’ lack of understanding of the Borneo states’ historical grievances and claim to one-third of parliament seats in both Houses.

“There are numerous reasons why Sabah and Sarawak should reject the Dewan Negara proposal, of which is seen as a ‘trick’ to maintain the status quo,” he said in a statement on Monday (Sept 16).

Chin, who is also a professor of Asian Studies at the University of Tasmania, Australia provided five key reasons why the Borneo states must reject the suggestions and insist on one third seats in both House of Parliament.

First, he said, the Dewan Negara has minimal political legitimacy in Malaysian politics because it is a totally appointed House. Its members are not directly elected by the populace.

“That is why, for many years, debates in the Dewan Negara have received less attention than those in the Dewan Rakyat.

“Furthermore, many of individuals nominated to Dewan Negara are viewed as ‘reward’ for post-political service. Hence the significant number of retired politicians in the Dewan Negara,” he said.

Secondly, he said, all major legislations are introduced in the Dewan Rakyat, where the actual discussion occurs.

The Dewan Negara only debates laws enacted by the Dewan Rakyat and hence lacks the legislative authority to block significant bills, he added.

“Third, all major political players, including the prime minister, his deputies, and the majority of ministries, are from the Dewan Rakyat. Ministers from Dewan Negara are commonly regarded as ‘backdoor’ ministers because they are appointed to the Dewan Negara in order to serve as ministers.

“This alone demonstrates that the political establishment views the Dewan Rakyat as more significant than the Dewan Negara,” he said.

Chin’s fourth reason is that, in practice, the Dewan Negara has no real power to block laws other than to delay them.

“The one-third seats are designed to restore Sabah and Sarawak’s ability to block constitutional amendments if they disagree with Malaya,” he said.

Lastly, he said it is clear that the original intention of the framers of the Constitution wanted Singapore, North Borneo and Sarawak to hold a veto over Malaya.

“This is to ensure that Malaya cannot alter the Federal constitution at will,” he said.

He then cited paragraph 19 of the Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) Report and Article 46 (1) of the Federal Constitution, which was clear that Singapore, North Borneo (now Sabah), and Sarawak did not want Malaya do dominate Parliament in respect of Constitutional amendments.

He also referred to Chapter 3, paragraph 9 of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), which states, “The House of Representatives shall consist of one hundred and fifty-nine elected members, and there shall be one hundred and four from the states of Malaya, sixteen from Sabah, twenty-four from Sarawak, and fifteen from Singapore.”

“In the Malaysia Solidarity Consultative Committee (MSCC) notes and Cobbold Report, it was made clear that the peoples of North Borneo and Sarawak was of the view that Malaya should not dominate the new federation.

“Thus, under the formula, the parliamentary seats in the proposed Malaysian Federation was distributed to ensure that Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak had veto power by ensuring that they had slightly more than one third of the seats in Parliament,” he said.

He added when Singapore left the Federation in 1965, its 15 Parliamentary seats out of the 159 were not redistributed to Sarawak or Sabah.

“This was a historical error that needs to be rectified. As time went by, the number of Parliamentary seats of Malaya grew to more than two third of the total Malaysia Parliament seats.

“Therefore, I hope that the peoples of Sabah and Sarawak understands the proper context of asking for one third of the seats in Parliament and not be fooled by NGOs in Malaya who have their own agenda,” said Chin.