UBF Demands 90 seats in Parliament for Sabah and Sarawak

Pitas, Sabah—At a Borneo Tea Party held in Kampung Tambilidon, Pitas, on Saturday, which was organised by United Borneo Front (UBF)  supporter and social activist Maklin Masiau, leader of UBF, Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan said he will continue to demand for at least 35% of parliamentary seats for Sabah and Sarawak.

 

“West Malaysian leaders can continue to erode our rights or pass laws which could be deemed to be oppressive against Sabah and Sarawak because there are a total of 166 West Malaysian seats out of the total 222, with only 56 seats for Sabah and Sarawak at 25% of the total. This stops us from having even a 1/3 right of veto. We can no longer go back to the equation used in 1963 because if we were to pitch our seats against population, we should have more than Sarawak as we now have a larger population than them. The UBF therefore proposes that we increase parliamentary seats to 256, leaving the 166 for West Malaysia and giving 45 seats each to Sabah and Sarawak. We should do this before the 13^th General Election,” Dr. Jeffrey said in his press statement.

 

He went on to add that the current 25% representation is a deliberate attempt to stop Sabah and Sarawak leaders from having a voice in parliament and that in the event of a unity government happening in West Malaysia, the 25% is an “unconscionable percentage for equitable representation.”

“If we continue to be denied a voice in parliament, Malaya has breached its promises under Article 8 of the Malaysia Agreement that was signed in London in 1963. This amounts to an abuse of our human rights as well as political oppression against the people of Sabah and Sarawak. This matter will be raised by the Common Interest Group Malaysia (CigMa) at the international level this year and will be one of the questions raised on the issue of whether or not the Malaysia Agreement has been breached so as to make it now null and void,” he stated.

 

Dr. Jeffrey is also the CigMa Chairman and is being represented at the international level by Daniel John Jambun.

 

Other issues raised at the tea party in Pitas included recent arguments raised by UBF pertaining to the failure of Sabah Development Corridor and the unfair cabotage issues pertaining to open sky policies. Dr. Jeffrey was accompanied as usual by his co-founders and advisers, Nilakrisna James and Zainal Ajamain.