KOTA KINABALU: Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR) Sabah Secretary-General Senator Datuk Edward Linggu (picture) today reiterated the party’s firm and principled position that the constitutional rights of Sabah and Sarawak to equitable representation in the Parliament of Malaysia are not a matter of population arithmetic, but a foundational guarantee arising from the formation of the Federation of Malaysia in 1963.
He said this position has been consistently and resolutely championed by STAR President Dr. Jeffrey G. Kitingan, whose decades-long struggle for Sabah rights is anchored in the spirit, letter and intent of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
“Central to this struggle is the restoration of no less than 35 per cent parliamentary representation for Sabah and Sarawak combined in the Dewan Rakyat, as envisaged at the point of Malaysia’s formation,” Linggu said in a statement.
In this regard, STAR Sabah expressed full support for the recent public remarks by Roger Chin (newspaper cutting), a Sabah Nominated Assemblyman and constitutional lawyer, who cautioned against a narrow, population-based interpretation of parliamentary seat allocation.
His response to comments attributed to Azmi Sharom, Deputy Chairman of the Election Commission of Malaysia, reflects what STAR described as a sound constitutional understanding that federal representation was never intended to be reduced to numerical majoritarianism alone.
Linggu stressed that Sabah and Sarawak did not enter Malaysia as ordinary states within a unitary framework, but as equal partners in a federal arrangement, with safeguards deliberately embedded to ensure that Borneo’s voice, autonomy and regional interests would not be marginalised over time.
“To assess representation solely on voter population is to disregard the political compromise and constitutional balance that underpin the Federation,” he said.
STAR Sabah echoed the warning that a “numbers-only” approach risks eroding Malaysia’s federal character and, by extension, diluting the constitutional status of Sabah and Sarawak.
“Such an approach, if left unchecked, he cautioned, would move the nation closer to a de facto unitary state, contrary to the spirit of MA63 and the assurances given to the peoples of Borneo,” he said.
Linggu emphasised that the call for 35 per cent parliamentary representation is not a quest for political advantage, but a call for restoration, fairness and constitutional fidelity.
“It is about preserving Malaysia as a federation of partners, not subordinates,” he said, adding that STAR Sabah will continue to assert this position firmly and constructively, in Parliament and beyond, until the constitutional balance envisioned in 1963 is fully respected and restored.
