Kuala Lumpur: A government backbencher has echoed the call by several MPs from Sabah and Sarawak for the government to allocate 35% of the Dewan Rakyat seats to the two states.
Richard Riot (GPS-Serian) said the provision for the East Malaysian states must be made before the 16th general election (GE16). He cited the Intergovernmental Committee (IGC) 1962 report.
However, Sarawak-based NGO, the Rise of Social Efforts (ROSE) was reported to have said last February that there is nothing in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) that guarantees one-third representation for the two states in the Dewan Rakyat.
The IGC report did guarantee the share of seats for Sarawak and Sabah would not drop below 25%, according to the total number of seats at the time, but this was only for a maximum of seven years after the formation of Malaysia.
“Sarawak and Sabah must be allocated 35%, or one-third (of the seats), not just 25% as it is now. This is not a request, but it (the allocation) is mentioned in the IGC report,” Riot said during a debate on the supply bill in the Dewan Rakyat.
Meanwhile, Riot also urged the education ministry to reinstate maintenance projects for schools in Sarawak, which he claimed had been withdrawn by the government.
He added that there was no reason provided for the withdrawals.
“It’s sad that the education ministry withdrew the allocations that were approved for maintenance and repairs of schools all over Sarawak.
“The project was approved, the headmasters and principals received the approval letters (for the works), but later they (the projects) were withdrawn, ” he said.
“I don’t know what happened. Of the hundreds of schools that received the approval letters, more than 50 are situated in my constituency. I urge the ministry to return the approved projects to the schools involved.”
