PETALING JAYA: The Sarawak government has completed a proposal to increase its representation in the Dewan Rakyat, according to a deputy minister in the premier’s department.
Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali told the state legislative assembly that the proposal for the Dewan Rakyat to comprise 35% of MPs from Sarawak and Sabah, had been submitted to Putrajaya, The Borneo Post reported.
“Several meetings on this proposal, by the working committee to discuss proposed legislative amendments related to the implementation of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), were held on Aug 10 and Oct 30, 2023, at the Sarawak federal secretary’s office and Sabah federal secretary’s office, respectively.
“Any decision made at the working group level will be brought up to the technical committee meeting, and subsequently be presented to the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) implementation action council,” she was quoted as saying.
Sharifah Hasidah added that the council meeting will be chaired by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to get the necessary endorsement.
She was responding to a question from Christopher Gira (GPS-Tamin), who had asked about the current status of negotiations with Putrajaya on increasing the representation in the Dewan Rakyat for Sarawak and Sabah to 35%.
Sharifah Hasidah said the state government was hopeful that the proposal would be realised, to be followed by an amendment to Article 46 of the Federal Constitution.
“This is to ensure a balanced representation in the Dewan Rakyat, in accordance with the spirit and the intention of the formation of the Federation of Malaysia in 1963,” she said, according to the Sarawak daily.
Currently, Sarawak and Sabah have 25% representation in the Dewan Rakyat.
