KUALA LUMPUR: The composition of Parliamentary seats in Malaysia, as it is today, is enshrined in the Federal Constitution, said Dewan Rakyat speaker Tan Sri Mohammad Ariff Md Yusoff.
Mohammad Ariff was commenting on Sarawak Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Abang Openg’s call for East Malaysian states to be given more than one-third of Parliamentary seats.
“I cannot answer that question, because it involves policy… whatever is in the (Federal) Constitution is in the Constitution. That is the constitutional formula.
“Since they are just asking for it, we just leave it like that,” he told reporters here, today.
On Thursday, Abang Johari forwarded a proposal to the Electoral Reform Committee, which is chaired by Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman, to increase the share of Parliamentary seats for Sabah and Sarawak, to give both states a larger say over any amendment to the Federal Constitution that is tabled.
Amendments require a two-thirds majority to be passed. As of now, Sarawak has 31 parliamentary seats, while Sabah has 25. There is a total of 222 seats in the Dewan Rakyat.