KUCHING, Feb 6 ― Sarawak Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Openg stressed today that his state and Sabah should account for at least a third of Malaysia’s parliamentary seats.

He said he emphasised this to the Electoral Reform Committee (ERC).

“This is our stand. In other words, two-thirds of the total number of seats in Parliament must not be confined to Peninsular Malaysia while Sarawak and Sabah are getting less than one-third,” he told reporters after chairing the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) supreme council meeting here.

Abang Johari was referring to the interim report on electoral reforms the ERC presented to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad last month.

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According to ERC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman, the full report will be submitted to Dr Mahathir in August, two years after the ETC was set up in August 2018.

He had said ERC had organised 21 stakeholder-engagement sessions since then, and was satisfied with the feedback received from the civil societies, public and political parties involved.

Today, Abang Johari said Sarawak wished to be part of these reforms.

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He said any proposal to reform the country’s electoral system must be debated in and approved by the Sarawak State Assembly as it would affect both the state and the country’s constitutions.

“The federal government has its own proposal while we also have own, one of which is on the question of two-thirds,” he said.

He said when Singapore had been part of Malaysia, federal lawmakers from the island state, Sabah and Sarawak accounted for over a third of Parliament.

When Singapore was expelled from the federation in 1965, however, its share of seats went entirely to the peninsula while the two Borneo states received none, he said.

This effectively reduced Sarawak and Sabah’s representation in Parliament to just 23 per cent.

Abang Johari said he has discussed the matter with his Sabah counterpart Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal and said they were in agreement.

“He also talked about the same thing like us,” he added.

The Sarawak CM expressed concern that unequal representation in the legislature would prevent Sarawak and Sabah from resisting constitutional amendments that the federal government desired, even if these were not in their interest.

Constitutional amendments require a parliamentary supermajority.

“So, if they want to amend the Federal Constitution, that means they can amend it without even our support, which is democratically not right,” he said.