By Remy Majangkim, MA63, activist, tutor, and historian
KOTA KINABALU: Are the Borneo States equally represented in the Malaysian Parliament? To understand this further, we need to know the role of our Members of Parliament (MP) in their constituencies.
A quote from the official parliament portal says, “Parliament passes federal laws, makes amendments to existing federal laws, examines the government’s policies, approves the government’s expenditures, and approves new taxes. Parliament also serves as the forum to discuss matters of public interest.”
Effectively on 16 September 1963, there are 159 Members of Parliament. So we break it into numbers and percentages as follows:
Malaysia, formerly known as the Federation of Malaya, has 104 members, representing 65.41%. Sabah, formerly known as North Borneo, has 16 members, representing 10.1%. Sarawak has 24 members, representing 15.1%, and Singapore has 15 members, representing 9.4%.
Fast forward to the present; we have a total of 222 Members of Parliament. The composition is as follows: Peninsular Malaysia has 166 seats, representing 74.77%; Sabah has 25 seats, representing 11.26%; and Sarawak has 31 seats, representing 13.97%.
The Borneo voice (en bloc) accounted for only 25.23% representation in the Malaysian Parliament, with Sabah having the lowest representation at 11.26%. This raises the question: How is this possible?
In 1966, when Singapore exited Malaysia, the Malaysian government should have made appropriate adjustments for the vacant seats of the Members of Parliament. However, this did not happen, as evidenced by the various changes made to the Federal Constitution during the years of the emergency period.
The admission of a new “state,” the Federal Territory (consisting of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan, and Putrajaya), has changed the landscape of Malaysia. This move by the Federal Government is considered unconstitutional, as the Constitution does not provide for the creation of a new state under Art. 2.
The federal government has also changed the composition of the House of Senate and House of Representatives, notably in Articles 45 and 46. This has led to the current composition. It is also notable that in Articles 1(3) and 1(4), additions were made to accommodate the Federal Territories. It is a whole lot of mess that needs to be entirely untangled.
Both the Dewan Undangan Negeri Sabah and Sarawak need to work together in unison to demand an equal voice in Parliament and adhere to the spirit and foundation of Malaysia.
