KOTA KINABALU: With its support base on rocky ground, Sabah Barisan Nasional coalition member Upko is hoping the creation of new state and parliamentary constituencies will boost the fortunes of the party.
For this it is relying on resurrecting the Malaysia Agreement, a 50-year-old accord that has seldom been paid heed to since Sabah joined Sarawak, Singapore and the Malayan Federation in forming Malaysian on Sept 16, 1963.
The party which suffered major shocks in last month’s 13th General Election wants additional parliamentary and state seats to be created under the re-delineation exercise, by the Election Commission (EC), expected by the end of the year.
“As we are celebrating the golden jubilee of the formation of Malaysia this year, we are hoping to see a fairer re-delineation exercise which adheres to the spirit of Malaysian Agreement and as stated in the Cobbold Commission, giving the Borneo states no less than 34% of the total parliamentary seats as in the first election in 1967,” said its chief, Ewon Benedick.
Benedick said the autonomy of the Borneo states was an important issue brought up in the just concluded 13th general election (GE13) and that it could be a reason for the swing of votes in several seats in Sabah.
“More and more Sabahans are concerned with their constitutional rights being eroded in the present situation,” said Benedick, who is the new federal Science, Technology and Innovation Minister in a statement.
Under the present boundaries, the peninsula is allocated 165 seats as opposed to 56 for the Borneo states and one to Labuan for a total of 222 seats in Parliament.
According to Benedick, the Cobbold Commission Report, which was the basis for the Malaysia Agreement, clearly stated that “the representation of the Borneo territories in the Federal Parliament should take into account not only their populations but also their size and potentialities”.
In the GE13, Sabah and Sarawak with a geographical size of 198,081 sq km or 60% of the total land mass of 329,081 sq km of the nation together made up 15% or 2,065,786 of the total 13,268,007 voters in Malaysia. The peninsula is 131,598 sq km in size.
“We are also strongly pushing for a fairer distribution of state seats which reflect the true racial composition in Sabah as we have seen the systematic reduction of the non-Muslim native and Chinese dominated seats since the 1993 re-delineation exercise.
“We (Komulakan Upko) suggested at least six additional parliamentary seats and 12 additional state seats to be created under the new re-delineation exercise,” he said.
The proposed parliamentary seats are: Bengkoka, Sorob, Tamparuli, Inanam, Bukit Padang and Tambunan and the state seats are Sikuati, Kanibongan, Langkon, Wariu, Marabahai, Menggatal, Lokawi, Biau, Sunsuron, Apin-Apin, Telupid and Bukit Garam.
Benedick was responding to a statement by the deputy chairman of the EC, Wan Ahmad Wan Omar on Monday that a re-delineation exercise would be done at the end of the year.
The way Upko sees it the new seats would help the BN government to strengthen its efforts to develop and transform the areas with more funds and administrative focus being given directly to the areas concern.
Benedick acknowledged that people may be distrustful of his call since the state and federal government had done badly in the just concluded elections and see it as a way to boost their flagging fortunes by any means.
“While some people are skeptical … this is also a test for the Pakatan Rakyat lawmakers to prove their sincerity if they really mean their manifesto of respecting and giving more autonomy to Sabah and Sarawak.
“They have nine lawmakers from the states and they need the commitment of just one (opposition) lawmaker from peninsula” to give a two-third vote of approval for the new election boundaries.
“I suppose certain segment of the rakyat voted for the Pakatan Rakyat candidates because they wanted to give them a chance to prove what they have been hearing since four years ago especially on the issue of autonomy.
“If they cannot vote a motion in favour of the interest of the two states, then what is it?” he asked.
Benedick pointed out that Pakatan’s call for a one vote one value was detrimental to Sabah.
“As I see now, their (Pakatan) peninsula counterparts are propagating the one-vote-one-value which will further erode the interest of the two states if implemented,” he said adding that the movement will put forward its suggestion to the party to be submitted to the EC.
Benedick also supported the move by Najib to control the functions of the EC through a by-partisan parliament select committee.
“Enough has been said about the EC, but putting them under a parliament select committee will see the impartiality of the commission is no longer questioned and that the confidence of the people towards them can be strengthened,” said the federal minister.
Michael Kaung
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ReplyDeletePakatan pembangkang lebih rasis - Shafie Apdal
ReplyDeleteKUALA LUMPUR 11 Jun - Penubuhan UMNO sebagai sebuah parti yang memayungi orang Melayu bukan bermaksud parti itu bersikap rasis sehingga menafikan hak kaum-kaum lain.
Sebaliknya, Naib Presiden UMNO, Datuk Seri Mohd. Shafie Apdal berkata, sikap keterbukaan UMNO dalam menerima kaum-kaum lain ditunjukkan menerusi kesediaan berada di bawah nama dan logo sama iaitu Barisan Nasional (BN) bersama-sama MCA, MIC dan parti komponen lain.
Beliau yang juga Menteri Kemajuan Luar Bandar dan Wilayah menambah, pembangkang lebih bersikap rasis selepas sehingga kini tidak mendaftarkan pakatan mereka di bawah nama dan lambang sama.
"Malah, DAP, Pas dan Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) juga bertanding atas tiket masing-masing dalam pilihan raya umum lalu meskipun mengakui kononnya berada di bawah pakatan sama," katanya.
ReplyDeleteBeliau berkata demikian dalam sidang akhbar selepas merasmikan Sambutan Hari Pendidik Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) 2013 di sini.
Mohd. Shafie mengulas kenyataan Setiausaha Agung DAP, Lim Guan Eng melalui artikel yang disiarkan di laman webnya di www.limguaneng.com baru-baru ini yang menyebut keengganan UMNO menjadi parti tunggal yang inklusif atau berbilang kaum menunjukkan parti tersebut berterusan mahu memecah-belahkan rakyat negara ini mengikut kaum demi memelihara kekuasaan mereka.
Dalam perkembangan lain, beliau menyelar sikap sesetengah pihak yang menuduh penubuhan Mara bersifat perkauman kerana kononnya diwujudkan hanya untuk membantu kaum Melayu.
ReplyDeleteJelas beliau, agensi itu ditubuhkan bertujuan membantu masyarakat luar bandar dengan menyediakan segala bentuk kemudahan demi meningkatkan taraf hidup mereka.
Sementara itu, mengulas tindakan Ahli Parlimen pembangkang yang tidak menghadiri majlis taklimat kepada Ahli-ahli Dewan Rakyat hari ini, beliau menempelak Ahli Parlimen tersebut kerana merasa diri mereka 'lebih pintar' dengan segala peraturan dan tatatertib Dewan Rakyat.
"Kita tidak boleh paksa kerana taklimat ini untuk penerangan dan tatacara peraturan Dewan Rakyat, tetapi jangan pula ketika mula bersidang nanti mereka melakukan sebebas-bebasnya tanpa mengikut peraturan.
"Mereka belum lagi dapat memerintah negara tetapi sudah menunjukkan perangai buruk," katanya.
BN fail 21 petisyen keputusan PRU-13
ReplyDeleteKUALA LUMPUR 11 Jun - Barisan Nasional (BN) memutuskan memfailkan hanya 21 petisyen keputusan Pilihan Raya Umum Ke-13 (PRU-13) berbanding 50 petisyen yang dirancang parti itu sebelum ini.
Setiausaha Agungnya, Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor berkata, keputusan itu dibuat selepas mengambil kira pelbagai faktor termasuk menjimatkan masa mahkamah, mengelak perbelanjaan tidak munasabah dan setelah mempertimbang nasihat petugas undang-undang.
"BN juga tidak mahu membangkitkan isu-isu remeh di mahkamah.
"Sebanyak 21 petisyen yang difailkan ini insya-Allah mempunyai asas yang kami percaya kukuh dan mempunyai merit yang wajar dipertimbang mahkamah kelak," katanya dalam kenyataan di sini hari ini.
Menurut Perkara 118 Perlembagaan Persekutuan, jika terdapat mana-mana pihak tidak berpuas hati dengan keputusan pemilihan pilihan raya umum lalu, mereka boleh mengemukakan petisyen pilihan raya kepada Mahkamah Tinggi yang mempunyai bidang kuasa di tempat pilihan raya itu diadakan.
Seksyen 38 Akta Kesalahan Pilihan Raya 1954 (Akta 5) pula memperuntuk tiap-tiap petisyen pilihan raya hendaklah dikemukakan dalam tempoh 21 hari dari tarikh keputusan dan penyata pengundian disiarkan dalam warta.
Tempoh 21 hari itu dianggap bermula pada 23 Mei lalu.
Sementara itu, Tengku Adnan memberitahu, beliau berharap dan percaya pembangkang juga akan mempertimbang perkara sama dalam memfail petisyen mereka dan isu-isu remeh tidak dibangkitkan di mahkamah.
"Kami percaya benteng kerajaan yang dipimpin BN ini akan kekal dan kami akan melaksana tanggungjawab yang telah diamanahkan rakyat kepada kami," katanya.
Sementara itu, BN Wilayah Persekutuan memfailkan dua petisyen melibatkan Parlimen Lembah Pantai dan Parlimen Batu.
BN KELANTAN pula memfailkan lima petisyen melibatkan Parlimen Bachok, manakala empat DUN pula ialah Jelawat, Mengkebang, Gaal dan Manek Urai.
Di JOHOR, lima petisyen difailkan BN negeri itu iaitu bagi kerusi Parlimen Batu Pahat, DUN Penggaram, DUN Parit Yani, DUN Stulang dan DUN Puteri Wangsa.
BN MELAKA pula memfailkan dua petisyen bagi kerusi Parlimen Bukit Katil dan DUN Bukit Baru.
Di SARAWAK, BN negeri itu hanya memfailkan satu petisyen iaitu bagi kerusi Parlimen Sarikei.
BN TERENGGANU pula memfailkan dua petisyen iaitu bagi kerusi DUN Rantau Abang dan Teluk Pasu.