KUCHING: The Malaysia Agreement 1963 Implementation Action Council (MA63IAC) has yet to decide on the additional parliamentary seats sought by Sarawak and Sabah, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof.
He said further discussions and consultations were needed due to differing legal views between the federal Attorney-General and the state Attorney-Generals of Sarawak and Sabah.
“But in principle, MA63IAC has agreed to the increase because the prime minister (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) has said it can be considered, but only after further negotiations,” Fadillah told reporters after the council’s meeting chaired by the prime minister at the Satria Pertiwi Complex here today.
He added that any increase in parliamentary seats would require an amendment to the Federal Constitution, supported by two-thirds of MPs.
At the Sarawak Legislative Assembly last year, Deputy Minister in the Premier’s Department (Law, MA63 and State-Federal Relations) Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali said a proposal to raise the combined number of members of Parliament from Sarawak and Sabah in the Dewan Rakyat to 35 per cent had been referred to a technical committee for further study.
She said the demand was based on the Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) Report 1962, which stipulated that the proportion of seats allocated to Sarawak and Sabah should not be reduced within seven years of Malaysia Day without the consent of the state governments.
Sharifah Hasidah added that Sarawak’s position was that the seats previously allocated to Singapore should now be redistributed to Sarawak and Sabah to restore the 35 per cent representation as it was in 1963, in line with the IGC Report.
Fadillah, who chairs MA63IAC’s technical committee, also said the council had agreed that judicial appointments involving Sarawak and Sabah must receive the endorsement of their respective governors after consultation with the Sarawak premier and Sabah chief minister.
He said constitutional amendments would be needed to formalise such changes.
On tourism, he said a working committee would study the matter in the context of amending the Federal Constitution, while the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry (Motac) would hold engagement sessions with all states.
Tourism, he noted, was previously on the Residual List before being moved to the Federal List in 1992.
Fadillah added that amendments to Article 95C of the Federal Constitution would be tabled in December to place environmental matters, especially scheduled waste, under the State Lists of Sarawak and Sabah.
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