Abang Johari Tun Openg
KUCHING: Sarawak will continue to fight for its rights in restoring the allocation of one-third representation in Parliament which has 222 seats, said Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.
He said it is imperative for the state to restore the status of Sabah and Sarawak as regional partners after the departure of Singapore in 1965 from the Federation of Malaysia.
“If Sarawak and Sabah do not have one-third representation each in Parliament or has less than one-third the number of seats, then constitutional amendment should be done based on the interests of Peninsular Malaysia having also one-third representation in Parliament.
“Sabah and Sarawak should have maintained the one-third out of 222 seats allocation and if this is not the case, power distribution in Parliament only depends on Peninsular Malaysia,” said Abang Johari in an interview in Kuala Lumpur.
“We (Sarawak) know that the Federal Constitution can be amended if they have more than two-third representation. If Sabah and Sarawak are each having less than one-third representation, then the Constitution can also be amended,” he added.
During the formation or Malaysia in 1963, Peninsular Malaysia had one-third representation, with Sarawak having 24 seats, Sabah having 16 seats and Singapore having 15 seats in Parliament then.
However, after Singapore left the Federation in 1965, its allocation of 15 seats were never distributed to Sarawak or Sabah.
At the moment, Sarawak and Sabah have 31 and 25 MPs each, respectively.