Parliament reforms: GPS to submit memo

Kota Kinabalu: The Sabah Solidarity Movement (GPS) will submit a Memorandum to the Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia to incorporate restoration of the one-third veto power as Sabah and Sarawak's constitutional safeguards in the proposed parliamentary reforms.Sabah Star chairman Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan said GPS had noted with sadness that although parliamentarians from both political divide have voiced support for Pandikar's initiative for parliamentary reforms, none of their proposals had addressed the injustice faced by Sabah and Sarawak in Parliament.

"GPS viewed that as the first Parliamentary Speaker from Sabah, Pandikar is most suited to lead the restoration of the rightful status of Sabah and Sarawak as equal partners to Malaya in Parliament.

"We request that Pandikar lead the parliamentary reforms to restore the spirit of the formation of Malaysia, to accord equal status of Sabah and Sarawak with Malaya and to ensure the protection of Sabah and Sarawak rights," he said in a statement, Thursday.

Jeffrey said when the Federation of Malaysia was formed in 1963, Malaya only held two-third of the parliamentary seats with one-third was held by Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore.

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"When Singapore left in 1963, the 15 seats held by Singapore should have been allocated to Sabah and Sarawak but unfortunately it did not happen.

"As a result, Sabah and Sarawak lost its one-third veto powers in the Parliament and now holds only 25 per cent of the parliamentary seats.

"As stated in the IGC Report, this was a constitutional safeguard for the Borneo States to ensure that the Federal Constitution would not be freely amended by Malaya representatives alone," he said.

Subsequently, he said, in 1976, with its two-third majority, the Federal Constitution was amended and Sabah and Sarawak were downgraded to be the 12th and 13th States of Malaya and the Yang DiPertua Negara of Sabah, reduced to Yang DiPertua Negeri.

It is hoped by GPS that the proposed parliamentary reforms will accord an opportunity to restore the rights of Sabah and Sarawak as equal to Malaya and not simply as a state like the other 11 States in Malaya.

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"Sabah and Sarawak have every right to the one-third parliamentary seats as it was recommended in paragraphs 165 and 190(g) of the Cobbold Commission Report that 'representation of the Borneo territories shall take into account not only of their populations but also of their size and potentialities.' "To get a proper perspective, Sabah is 90 times the size of Perlis or equal to nine states in Malaya while Sarawak is almost equal in size to all the 11 Malayan States," he said.

Jeffrey added that the proposal should receive the support of other Sabah and Sarawak MPs including Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan who had viewed that Malaya should be restricted to only 65 per cent ratio of MPs seats in the Federal Parliament as agreed in 1963.

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