KOTA KINABALU: More parliamentary seats should be created in Sabah along with the creation of 13 new state constituencies.
Parti Bersatu Sabah president Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili said new parliamentary constituencies were needed to meet the state’s political, social and economic growth.
Currently, there are 25 parliamentary seats in Sabah.
The Kota Marudu member of parliament said the bill for the creation of the state’s 13 new state seats could have been passed by Parliament before the 14th General Election (GE14).
“The creation of new state seats should have also involved the creation of new parliamentary seats for the same reasons.
“Voters have increased, constituents’ basic needs have grown and towns have developed, hence the demands for political leadership are huge,” Ongkili said.
He said in reviewing the parliamentary constituencies, both the Sabah EC and the Federal Government must also take into account the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) and the Inter-Government Committee (IGC) Report, which specified that the total number of parliamentary seats for Sabah and Sarawak should be at least one-third of the total of seats in Parliament.
“This must be complied with to fulfil the demands of the MA63,” he stressed.
Ongkili also reiterated PBS’s demand for the postponement of automatic voter registration.
“We request, again, for the postponement of automatic voter registration until the Sabah electoral roll is cleaned up.”
Malaysia’s 211 lawmakers yesterday approved a legal amendment to lower the voting age to 18, from 21 previously.
The amendment also included provisions for voters to be automatically registered on the electoral roll and for candidates to be eligible to stand for election from the age of 18.