Wan Junaidi: Demand to allocate one-third seats to Sabah, S’wak will take time

KUCHING (Jan 21): Sarawak’s demand that the Bornean states receive one-third seats in the Dewan Rakyat as stipulated in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) will take some time, said Tan Sri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.

He said the road to the reinstatement of Sabah and Sarawak’s parliamentary seats is not an easy task, as it needs to undergo several stages and not only requires amending relatede laws, but conducting a redelineation of electoral boundaries at each constituency of the two states.

“I hope Sarawakians and Sabahans can be patient, because the redelineation of electoral boundaries study, which will be conducted by the Election Commission, usually takes two years to complete.

“During my time as (de facto) law minister, I used to set a timeframe of at least two years of study,” he said in a press conference held after a recent ‘Bicara Tokoh’ programme.

Thus, for that purpose, Wan Junaidi said the once every eight years period to conduct a redelineation exercise in Sarawak would be in 2023; Sabah (2025); and other states in 2026.

However, he noted that in order to increase the number of parliamentary seats up to 35 per cent, both states must realign the time for the redelineation exercise.

“Clause 6 of Article 113 of the Federal Constitution states the law has set reviews for the states of Malaya (including the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya) as well as Sabah and Sarawak at different times,” he said.

Elaborating further, Wan Junaidi said the proportion of parliamentary seats for Sabah and Sarawak should be maintained since the year of the formation of Malaysia in 1963.

He recollected that back in 1963, Sabah had 16 seats; Sarawak had 24 seats; and Singapore had 15 seats, and in fact this proportion had been written in MA63, the Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) Report 1962, Cobbold Commission and Federal Constitution.

“Most people don’t understand the context history of ‘proportion’ as the keyword. Proportion is the keyword to the formation of Malaysia — how Sabah, Sarawak, Tanah Melayu and Singapore formed the Federation of Malaysia in 1963,” he said.

“When Singapore left Malaysia in August 1965, the 15 seats for Singapore were also revoked. However, now the proportion of seats for Sabah and Sarawak is 24 out of 222 seats,” he said.