KUCHING: The Attorney-General Chambers needs time to examine the interpretation of the term "safeguards" for Sarawak and Sabah as outlined in the Cobbold Commission Report and the 1962 Inter-Governmental Committee Report (IGC Report) from a legal perspective.
Deputy Minister of Law, Malaysia Agreement 1963 and State-Federal Relations Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali said this at today's Sarawak state assembly.
She was replying to a question from Tupong assemblyman Datuk Fazzrudin Abdul Rahman on Sarawak and Sabah's demand for 35 per cent of the seats in Parliament.
She said the federal A-GC made the request at the last meeting of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 Implementation Action Council meeting on Sept 12.
Sharifah said after the federal A-GC had completed its review, then discussions would be held between the A-GC and the Attorney-General's Offices of Sarawak and Sabah to examine the interpretation of the term. The term is contained in Article 3 of the 1962 Inter-Governmental Committee Report.
Sharifah said the constitutional safeguards referred to was "unambiguous and quite clear". She also told the assembly that the demand for 35 per cent of parliamentary seats from Sabah and Sarawak was also based on Article 19(2) of the IGC.
In 1963, Malaya had only 104 seats out of the total seats in the Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives), while Sarawak, Sabah and Singapore held 55 seats. Sharifah added that with this seat distribution, no party held a two-thirds majority.
When Singapore ceased to be part of Malaysia in 1965, the Federal Constitution was amended and Singapore's seats in the Dewan Rakyat were abolished. This caused the percentage of seats held by Sarawak and Sabah in the Dewan Rakyat to decrease from 35 per cent to 25 per cent, while the percentage of seats for Malayan states rose from 65 per cent to 75 per cent.
Sharifah said the Sarawak government believes that the seats previously held by Singapore in the Dewan Rakyat should be allocated to Sarawak and Sabah to maintain the 35 per cent ratio as in 1963, "aligning with the original intent or spirit of the formation of Malaysia and the IGC Report".