KUCHING: State Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Hamzah says the demand for one-third of seats in Parliament by Sabah and Sarawak is part of a historical deal to safeguard the rights of both Bornean territories.
"The key issue is 'safeguard'.The word is very very important," he said.
With members of parliament from Peninsular Malaysia now holding more than two-thirds of the seats, they can theoretically "bulldoze anything", including amending the Constitution to deprive the rights of Sarawak and Sabah, he claimed.
"That was not what our forefathers had in mind when they agreed to form Malaysia," he told reporters after opening a conference on rural development and entrepreneurship here today.
Karim said historically, one-third of the seats did go to Sarawak, Sabah and Singapore before the city-state left the federation two years later in 1965.
"Why did Singapore, Sarawak and Sabah then known as North Borneo, get one-third of the seats?
"These forefathers who drew up the constitution were far sighted. That intention must (therefore) be respected." he said.
When Singapore left, their 15 seats were not distributed among Sabah and Sarawak. They were instead delineated into Peninsular Malaysia, giving it more than two-thirds of the seats.
Karim also took a swipe at constitutional expert Professor Dr Nik Ahmad Kamal Nik Mahmood, who recently argued that there were no provisions in the Constitution for Sabah and Sarawak to be given one-third of the parliamentary seats.
Nik Ahmad said the demand was based only on safeguards in the Cobbold Commission's report, which contained Sabah's 20-point agreement and Sarawak's 18-point agreement, but was not enshrined in the Federal Constitution.
On this, Karim said Nik Ahmad "needs to study more".
"This does not mean that if he is a professor, he knows everything.He must understand how Malaysia was formed."
When asked Sarawak's stand on claims that peninsula-based parties like Umno, Pas, PKR, Bersatu and DAP in Sarawak and Sabah could erode the "safeguard" by upholding the interests of their political masters from the peninsula, Karim said the voters should ask the representatives of these parties on their stand.
"It's up to the voters in Sabah and Sarawak to decide whether they should vote for these Peninsular Malaysia parties or local parties.
"The voters should ask if they would fight for the state when they involve the rights of their states."
Karim said if these candidates were "not in concurrent with the hopes of the people (of Sabah and Sarawak), then they should not vote for them".
In Sabah, some politicians were advocating for a ban on peninsula-based parties from contesting in state elections.