Minister for Sabah and Sarawak affairs Maximus Ongkili said the issue was deliberated and endorsed at the 5th meeting of the special council chaired by Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob in Putrajaya.
“However, more engagements are required pertaining to the issue, especially among serving Borneo legislators and legal practitioners,” he said in a statement here tonight.
Based on the current calculation, of the 222 parliamentary seats, 166, or 75%, are in Peninsular Malaysia while the remaining 25%, or 56 seats, are in the Borneo states, with Sarawak (31) and Sabah (25).
With this endorsement by the council, Sabah and Sarawak will be able to push for 78 of the 222 parliamentary seats.
Ongkili, who is also Kota Marudu MP, said lawmakers from Sabah and Sarawak had demanded a review of the number of parliamentary seats for both states.
He said: “In 1963, Sabah had 16 seats, Sarawak (24) and Singapore (15), representing 35% from the overall 159 parliamentary seats, while the remaining 65%, or 104 seats, were Malaya’s.
“Malaya does not possess the two-thirds (2/3) majority alone. So when Singapore left Malaysia in 1965, the seats belonging to Singapore should have been given to Sabah and Sarawak, to meet the 35% representation,” he said, adding that the proposed restoration of seats had been endorsed by the Parliamentary Special Select Committee in 2012.
Ongkili also added that the ultimate task was to convince the Election Commission but he stressed that the issue should be pushed because it was another restoration in accordance with the MA63.
On another matter, the statement also mentioned that health minister Khairy Jamaluddin had briefed the MKMA63 that efforts were ongoing to beef up health services in Sabah and Sarawak.
The council, which includes Sabah chief minister Hajiji Noor and Sarawak premier Abang Johari Openg, senior federal and state ministers and officials, was informed that both Sabah and Sarawak can expect additional doctors and nurses soon, as well as other medical facilities.
“Also in the pipeline are plans to repair dilapidated hospitals and clinics in both states, and to ensure there are sufficient numbers of specialists at all healthcare outlets,” the statement read.