Speaking at a community event in Kapit, Sarawak, at which Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was present, Abang Johari said one-third of parliamentary seats were allocated to Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore at the formation of Malaysia in 1963.
This ratio ensured that the non-Malayan states had veto power in the Dewan Rakyat. However, when Singapore left the federation in 1965, its 15 parliamentary seats were not redistributed to the Borneo states, he said.
“That is why now we want (Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim) to give us up to one-third of the seats because the Singapore seats were taken up by the Federation of Malaya,” he said, according to Dayak Daily.
“It’s not that we want it (out of personal interest) but because we want to protect (our rights). In our parliamentary democracy, you can amend any part of the constitution as long as you have a two-thirds majority.
“We are just afraid that there is a possibility of an attempt to cancel the MA63. Who knows? So if we have one-third of the seats, we know that the basic fundamental agreement is intact,” said Abang Johari, who is chairman of the ruling Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) coalition.
Last year, deputy prime minister Fadillah Yusof said it may take two to three years before Sabah and Sarawak can be allocated one-third of the Dewan Rakyat seats. Fadillah, a vice-president of GPS, said the matter was still at the discussion stage.
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