KUCHING: Sarawak and Sabah must not be treated as mere states in the federation but as founding partners of Malaysia.
University of Tasmania Professor, Dr James Chin, said both regions were never meant to be sidelined, and the restoration of their lost parliamentary seats would realign Malaysia’s federal structure to its original form.
He asserted that the parliamentary seats vacated after Singapore’s exit in 1965 were never redistributed to Sabah and Sarawak but instead disappeared without proper replacement.
“The most important thing Sarawak can do now is make sure the Prime Minister pushes a bill in Parliament to raise Sarawak and Sabah’s seats to about 35 per cent.
“That will fundamentally change Malaysia’s political system and improve the federal-state relationship for the better.
“If Sabah and Sarawak get one-third of the seats in Parliament, no constitutional amendment can be made without the consent of either state.
“More importantly, no key political decisions about the country’s future can be made without consulting Sabah or Sarawak,” he told Sarawak Tribune.
Chin added that the 15 seats lost after Singapore’s departure were not given to Malaya.
He stressed that the demand for one-third representation was not just symbolic, but tied to the original setting of the federation when Sabah, Sarawak, Singapore and Malaya came together.
“The seats were basically lost. The 15 seats were not redistributed to Malaya. That didn’t happen. They were simply cancelled, and Malaya’s additional seats came later through redelineation,” he said.
