00:00A Gabungan Party Sarawak Youth Leader has described a pollster's projection that the
00:05Barisan Nasional Perikatan Nasional Alliance could form the next federal government without
00:10support from Sabah and Sarawak as a wake-up call for East Malaysia.
00:15Sarawak United People's Party Youth Vice Chairman Kelvin He said the projection raised
00:20concerns that East Malaysia's interests could be sidelined.
00:24He said it showed why Sabah and Sarawak should be allocated a third of Dewan Rakyat seats
00:29to safeguard their rights, regardless of which party leads Pooja Jaya.
00:34He noted that the two states currently hold only 56 of the 222 parliamentary seats, or about 25%.
00:43The Youth Vice Chairman warned that there should never be a situation where a federal government
00:47can disregard Sarawak and Sabah simply because their support is no longer required to form a
00:53government. He was referring to an Ilham Centre projection that BNPN could win up to 122
00:59parliamentary seats in West Malaysia alone in the next general election. Only 112 seats are
01:05needed for a simple majority. He also maintained that Sabah and Sarawak were equal partners alongside
01:11Malaya in forming Malaysia and deserve to be treated accordingly. When Malaysia was formed in 1963,
01:18Malaya held 105 of the 160 Dewan Rakyat seats, while Sarawak had 24, Sabah 16, and Singapore 15.
01:26That arrangement prevented Malaya from having the two-thirds majority needed to amend the federal
01:32constitution, but after Singapore left Malaysia, its 15 seats were not redistributed to Sabah and
01:38Sarawak. Sarawak Premier Abang Jahari Oppeng has previously backed giving East Malaysia one-third
01:45of parliamentary seats to protect the Malaysia Agreement 1963. However, Deputy Prime Minister Fadila Yusof
01:52said the allocation could only be made after GE 16.
01:57Jessalyn Kaur, FMT
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