Sabah, Sarawak should have 1/3 parliament seats each – former MP

PUTATAN (Oct 10): Former Putatan member of parliament Datuk Dr Marcus Mojigoh raised concerns over the distribution of parliamentary seats, questioning why Sabah and Sarawak are only allocated one-third of the seats while Peninsular Malaysia (Malaya) holds two-thirds.

“Which regions are falling behind? Where is the fairness in this?” he asked.

He added that for fairness sake, Sabah and Sarawak should have 1/3 parliament seats each, and Malaya should also get 1/3.

Marcus reminded that although most high-tech facilities are concentrated in Malaya, the primary income sources come from Sabah and Sarawak, highlighting the imbalance in resource distribution and development focus.

He was commenting on the proposal to increase the parliament seats for Sabah and Sarawak to 1/3 from the total of 222 parliament seats presently.

“This makes it 74 seats. So, how many will be for Sabah and how many is for Sarawak? Presently, Sabah and Sarawak have 55 seats together, with Sabah having 24 seats and Sarawak 31 seats. That means Sabah will have 11 seats to 35 parliament seats while Sarawak will get 39 parliament seats.”

Marcus said he had raised the motion to re-examine the parliament border in parliament when he was still a member of parliament but this was never discussed.

“When there is a connection to allegations arising regarding gerrymandering, the Dewan Rakyat Speaker rejected the matter from being discussed as it was not listed on the meeting’s agenda.”

Gerrymandering is the practice of manipulating the boundaries of electoral districts to favour one political party or group over another.

It involves redrawing the lines of a district in a way that gives an unfair advantage to a particular party or reduces the political influence of the opposition.

The term comes from the name of Elbridge Gerry, a governor of Massachusetts who signed a bill in 1812 that created a district shaped like a salamander, hence the combination of “Gerry” and “mander.”

“The reason we bring up this matter is because it has become a topic of conversation in coffee shops or when friends talk about politics. It is not intended to point fingers or blame any specific parties,” said Marcus.

He added that the issue of Sabah/Sarawak is often treated by Malaya’s leaders as “a stepchild”.

“Whenever we ask or request something, there are always giving various reasons to reject it. We bring up matters related to MA63 (Malaysia Agreement 1963), issues related to Article 112C and 112D as stated in the Malaysian Constitution. Have they reacted positively?

“And why do we raise the matters above? It’s because parliamentary constituencies must have a sufficient population, even if the area is small, and ample facilities such as those in Malaya.”

He cited Putrajaya as an example of a parliamentary constituency in Malaya and said that it was a small place but fully developed.

“And there are places like Petaling Jaya with over 100,000 population and Bukit Bintang, which also has a large population. Areas won by DAP (Democratic Action Party) are already well developed, but the government also allocates funds for each government MP,” he said.

“But compared to the sizes of parliamentary constituencies in Sabah, for example Kinabatangan, which is larger than the entire state of Melaka, as is Pensiangan. This is why most rural areas in Sabah and Sarawak are underdeveloped or not given much attention by the government,” he said.

Marcus also suggested that the 11 seats for Sabah be distributed as such: Matunggong and Pintasan (Mantanani parliament), Pitas and Bengkoka (Mangayau parliament), Kadamaian and Tamparuli (Tangilan parliament), Kiulu and taking half of the voters from Inanam which exceeded 60,000 voters (Menggatal parliament), Api-Api and Tanjung Aru (Gaya parliament), Paginatan and Telupid (Nunuk Ragang parliament), Kuamut and Lamag (Meliau parliament), Tulid and Liawan (Trus Madi parliament), Senallang and Apas (Sipadan parliament), Kukusan and Tanjung Baru (Wallace Bay parliament) and Segama and Tungku (Silabukan parliament).

“There are three State Assembly constituencies (DUN) with voters exceeding 60,000 such as Inanam, Moyog and Batu Sapi. To avoid gerrymandering, those three DUN areas can be divided into two DUNs so that it can form a parliament area,” he said.

He also said that the racial composition of each parliamentary area must be given priority so that Sabah will have equal representation in most of the newly proposed areas.

“I was confronted by a Lundayeh leader from Sipitang who proposed that the SPR (Election Commission) create a special area for this particular community. He said that part of Sindumin, Long Pasia and Meligan area can be created as a new DUN area. The DUN area revision is not up yet,” he added.