ROSE warned that the potential impacts include greater disparity or inequality in representation that goes against democracy which could lead to a coalition with enough seats in Parliament to form majority government but only supported by the minority population. – Bernama photo
MIRI (Oct 13): The Rise of Social Efforts (ROSE) civil society is concerned that political expediency could result in East Malaysia’s push for one-third representation in parliament ending up with a future government representing less than half of the population of Malaysia.
In a statement, it warned that the potential impacts include greater disparity or inequality in representation that goes against democracy which could lead to a coalition with enough seats in Parliament to form majority government but only supported by the minority population.
“So what this means is that the government may make decisions that might be opposed by more than half of the population,” ROSE pointed out.
Under the principle of ‘One Man, One Vote’, Sarawak and Sabah were already over-represented with 25 per cent of the parliamentary seats representing one-sixth of the electorate and increasing further the number of seats from 56 (Sabah 25, Sarawak 31) to 83 seats to achieve the ‘magic number of 33.33 per cent’ could point to malapportionment, it added.
The hurdles ahead including getting sufficient support of two thirds of MPs to amend Article 46 of the Federal Constitution could only be resolved if there are also additional seats for the more populous states of Peninsular Malaysia, but which could impact on the federal budget, it further argued.
ROSE was responding to the popular claim that only by having one third of the seats in Dewan Rakyat could Sarawak and Sabah rights be safeguarded and prevent a situation where two thirds of MPs from Peninsula states pass laws that are against Sarawak or Sabah’s interests or take away their rights.
Arguing that malapportionment or over-representation of certain groups of voters was already a well-established trend of thought even within Sarawak, ROSE believed that it could worsen with proposed election boundaries re-delineation to meet the one-third representation target.
The NGO cited the disparity in representation of 1:5 between Igan (28,290 voters) and Miri parliamentary constituency (143,229 voters) as an example, which meant that the strength of a vote in Igan is five times more than that of a voter in Miri.
In the last General Election (GE15), the electoral quotient (EQ) for Sarawak was 62,680 voters and Miri was 128 per cent above this bar while the smallest seat Igan was 55 per cent below it.
Saying such disparity should be redressed, ROSE suggested that this could be done by ensuring that the number of voters in each constituency in Sarawak to be approximately equal, with the exception of rural districts.
It cautioned politicians against making demand out of political expediency without considering its impacts on the electorate and national stability, saying the priority should be strengthening the state’s veto powers in reforming Dewan Negara.
“We thus support the many calls to do so and think that this is the opportune time to consult and start the process with Tan Sri Dato Sri Dr Haji Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar ably helming the Dewan Negara now,” it said.
ROSE also dismissed as myth that the condition in MA63 that a third of Dewan Rakyat seats be allocated for Sarawak and Sabah was diluted when Singapore left the Federation in 1965 and its 15 seats were given to Malaya and not Sabah and Sarawak, saying it simply lapsed.