Kurup: Respect M’sia Agreement

0

KOTA KINABALU: The increase of parliamentary seats from 104 in 1964 to 222 today reflects the failure to respect the spirit of the Malaysia Agreement 1963, said Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) president Tan Sri Joseph Kurup.

Kurup pointed out that based on the agreement and guarantee in the Malaysia Agreement, the number of parliamentary seats for Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore must be equivalent to 35 per cent of the total representation in Parliament.

“The importance of the 35 per cent is that it is a formula to ensure the two thirds majority in parliament can only be achieved with the support of all territories in Malaysia,” he said at PBRS’21st anniversary dinner here on Saturday night.

Kurup, who is the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, added through the five delineation exercises which have been carried out since 1996, the parliamentary seats in Peninsular Malaysia have increased by almost 75 per cent, from 104 in 1964 to 166 today.

However, the same cannot be said for Sabah and Sarawak, as the number of parliamentary seats in these two states was increased by only 25 per cent, from 40 seats to 56 during the same period of time, he lamented.

“Sabah and Sarawak only saw an increase of 16 parliamentary constituencies in the same 50 years period compared to 60 in Peninsular Malaysia.

“This gives Peninsular Malaysia control of two thirds of the seats in Parliament,” he said.

Therefore, Kurup stressed, any exercise of adding parliamentary seats in the future must give priority to adhering to the spirit of the Malaysia Agreement 1963, especially in correcting the imbalanced representation of seats from 14 per cent to 11 per cent in Sabah and from 21 per cent to 13 per cent in Sarawak in comparison to the total number of seats.

“This is important especially when the current political reality on this side of the country had resulted in Sabah and Sarawak ensuring the formation of the BN government today,”he opined.

“It is my hope that the Election Commission, when conducting the re-delineation exercise, after the last one in 2003, will ensure that Sabah and Sarawak will get its 35 per cent representation in terms of parliamentary seats in line with the policy and spirit of the Malaysia Agreement 1963,” he said.

Kurup proposed that Sabah gets at least 10 to 12 seats in the coming re-delineation exercise.

He added that under his leadership, PBRS will continue to work at strengthening ties between the rakyat and BN, because the BN government is duty bound to ensure that the people will continue to live in peace, harmony and prosperity.

“PBRS will continue to support the Prime Minister’s leadership and I have said this during the recent BN leadership meeting. Our Prime Minister is a concerned leader, especially about the welfare of the rakyat in the interior and rural areas.

“His way of administration is all about inclusivity, and this ensures that the voices of the rakyat in the interior and rural areas will always be heard and given attention. In fact, after four decades of Sabahans airing out their grouses, Datuk Seri Najib is the Prime Minister brave enough to set up the Royal Commission of Inquiry on the presence of illegal immigrants in Sabah. This reflects his political will and preparedness to listen to the voices and grouses of the people in Sabah,” he pointed out.

In his speech, Kurup also called on PBRS leaders to give more room to the younger leaders to serve the people. He advised party’s leaders to take the younger leaders and members under their wing.

“To PBRS leaders, don’t push the youths away. I am worried that if we are afraid the youths would threaten the position of our current leaders and we neglect them, they will turn to the opposition.

“To this end, I urge that the registration of youths into PBRS be made easier and in the effort to attract the younger generation into the party, I am of the opinion that it is time PBRS gives more room and trust to the them to serve as elected representatives in the our traditionally parliamentary and state assembly seats,” he said.

According to Kurup, giving the younger generation the opportunity to be future leaders is political reality based on the trend of increasing young voters or first-time voters which have increased from 60,000 in 2008 to three million in the 13th general election.

This number is expected to reach five million in the 14th general election, he said, and also called on PBRS Youth to be the party’s front liners in moving its political, economy and social agendas.

Kurup also said that PBRS will continue to protect and fight for all values written in the country’s Constitution to ensure that Malaysia remains a secular country for eternity.

The Barisan Nasional government, he added, will ensure that the people in Sabah will continue to have freedom of religion as guaranteed in the Federal Constitution and fulfill the promises etched on the Batu Sumpah (oath stone) in Keningau.

“I would like to stress once again that what was inscribed on the Batu Sumpah Keningau must be respected and guaranteed by the Federal Government. PBRS will not compromise on these promises.

“Although I believe in freedom of religion, Hudud is against the country’s Constitution and not suitable in a plural society such as ours. Even though PAS may be prevented from implementing the Hudud this time, there is no guarantee that there will be no more future attempts to do so.

“I therefore appeal to all natives in Sabah to unite and ensure that neither DAP or PKR will win any seats in the coming general election. I also take this opportunity to state my full support for the initiative of Kumpulan 47, a group of former government officers and professionals, who are urging the government to defend the secularism values in our Constitution which guarantees freedom of religion in the country.

“I hope more people will join the group’s initiative in our effort to ensure that the country remains secular where freedom of religion is respected and guaranteed forever,”he said.