Sabah, Sarawak must regain 35 pct parliamentary seats, says Prof Chin

KUCHING (July 29): Sabah and Sarawak must regain their 35 per cent share of parliamentary seats in accordance with the provisions of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), said Prof Dr James Chin.

The advisor to the Sarawak Initiatives (TSI) said this was the top resolution adopted at the Borneo States Symposium II held in the city last weekend.

“The 35 per cent proposal by Sarawak must be implemented as the federal Cabinet agreed to this during the Ismail Sabri (Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob) Administration.

“There is no reason why Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim can reject this,” he said at the symposium jointly organised by TSI and Sabah Action Body Advocating Rights (Sabar).

The first symposium of its kind was held in Kota Kinabalu last November.

Chin, a professor of Asian Studies at University of Tasmania and a Sarawakian himself, stated that when Sabah and Sarawak receive their 35 per cent share of parliamentary seats, it will fundamentally change the federal-state relationship.

According to him, this means Putrajaya cannot constitutionally ignore Sabah or Sarawak.

“If we don’t get the 35 per cent, then we do not have real leverage as Peninsular Malaysia alone can change the Federal Constitution at will, as is the situation now,” he said.

He also warned that many local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) opposed the move to grant Sabah and Sarawak 35 per cent of the seats in Parliament.

“There are many well-meaning local NGOs here in Sarawak that are influenced by Peninsular NGOs which argue about the ‘one man, one vote’ rule. They do not realise that they are being manipulated by Peninsular NGOs to promote this idea which means we cannot get the one-third of seats.

“Another idea they are actively promoting is to grant one-third of the Dewan Negara seats to Sabah and Sarawak,” he explained.

Chin opined that all this would not work because without a constitutional amendment granting Sabah and Sarawak 35 per cent of parliamentary seats, there was no guarantee that future Putrajaya governments would honour this ad hoc agreement.

As such, he stressed that Sabah and Sarawak must insist that 35 per cent be written into the Constitution.

The symposium also adopted other resolutions:

– That representatives from the Borneo States be included in all fiscal and monetary policy making agendas.

– That the federal government pay Sabah the 40 per cent rebate as stated in the MA63.

– That full devolution of power on education to the Borneo States be carried out immediately with full funding from the federal government.

– That the governments of the Borneo States collaborate to create the “Borneo School of Economics and Political Science” to educate and train the next generation of leaders.

– That all federal funds for the Borneo States be transferred to their consolidated funds to implement projects independently.

– That equal funding be given to all religious bodies in Sarawak and Sabah.