Friday, September 11, 2026

Constitution to be amended for more parliamentary seats in Sabah, Sarawak

 


Constitution to be amended for more parliamentary seats in Sabah, Sarawak

Constitution to be amended for more parliamentary seats in Sabah, Sarawak

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim says this is in accordance with the Malaysia Agreement 1963.

anwar
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, flanked by Sabah chief minister Hajiji Noor and Sarawak premier Abang Johari Openg, said while the possibility of more parliamentary seats in Peninsular Malaysia cannot be ruled out, it must not undermine the need to increase the representation of the two Borneon states. (Bernama pic)
PETALING JAYA:
The Federal Constitution will be amended to allow for an increase in parliamentary seats in Sabah and Sarawak in accordance with the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), says Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Anwar said the increase is necessary to ensure the two states have greater representation in Parliament.

“Some ordinary decisions are usually expedited. The most important one is the decision to amend the constitution to allow greater participation of Sabah and Sarawak MPs, as promised in MA63.

“The increase in the number of MPs is the prerogative of the Election Commission,” he was quoted by Sinar Harian as saying after chairing a Malaysia Agreement 1963 Implementation Action Council meeting in Kota Kinabalu today.

The meeting was attended by Sabah chief minister Hajiji Noor, Sarawak premier Abang Johari Openg and Sabah and Sarawak affairs minister Mustapha Sakmud.

Anwar said while the possibility of more parliamentary seats in Peninsular Malaysia cannot be ruled out, it must not undermine the need to increase Sabah and Sarawak’s representation.

Asked whether the representation of Sabah and Sarawak was targeted to make up 40% of the total parliamentary seats, Anwar said Putrajaya had not set a figure.

He said the details and mechanism would be discussed with the EC, the state governments, and the parties involved.

3 comments:

  1. The fundamental principle of one-person one-vote is being diluted more and more than ever in Malaysia.

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  2. As it is, West Malaysians have no freedom of employment, business, no freedom of residence in East Malaysia, purely at the sufference of Sarawak and Sabah governments. Applications need to be justified case by case, with detailed documentation just like Bangla or Indon, and significant numbers are delayed or rejected.

    My organisation has a business office in Kucing, and I really needed the regional office manager and the accountant to be people I have full confidence in. Qualified Sarawakians given due consideration , of course, but having legal obstacles placed on hiring the most appropriate candidates from Malaysian citizens, not foreign citizens, mind you, is a real business barrier.

    While Sabahans and Sarawakians have full freedom of employment, business and residence.in.the.Peninsula.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. mfer, check the clauses of the MA63 lay before u fart.

      Regional preferential r built-in to safeguard the native rights of the Sarawakian&Sabahan who r the TRUE Orang Asal of that land, with NO racial & religion demarcational identification. This is TOTALLY difference from the Peninsula M'sia's racio-religious glass ceiling distinction!

      BTW, in the original MA63, the electoral distributions had in-built clauses such that that distributions favored the combined voting rights of S'pore, & East M'sia states I've that of the PM'sia. When S'pore was forced to leave the federation, the ketuanan PM'sia realign that distributed electoral proportion to its favor. Thus, isolating the EM'sia states. Together with the politikus from that two states, they have managed to scam the natural resources of these two states, leaving the people of these two states in a dirt poor economic chasm!

      Delete