In a joint statement, the NGOs described the push for the proposal as “disingenuous” and “an insult to Sabahans and Sarawakians”.

“You cannot expect a non-elected chamber to have the authority to speak out for Sabah and Sarawak with legitimacy.

“If the Dewan Negara was powerful, Singapore, North Borneo (Sabah) and Sarawak leaders would have requested a third of the Dewan Negara seats back in 1963,” the group said, adding that the Senate is not where “the power lay”.

The NGOs include the Sarawak Association For Peoples’ Aspiration, Dayak International Organisation, Moningolig Pogun Tokou (Defenders of Ancestral Lands Sabah), the Gindol Initiative for Civil Society Borneo, and Pertubuhan Kebajikan Rumpun Dayak Sabah.

Others who endorsed the statement are Gabungan Orang Asal Sarawak, Persatuan Etnik Dayak Asal Sarawak, Sarawak Institute of International Affairs, Sabah Action Body Advocating Rights, Sabah Entitlement & Equity Now, and the Sarawak Dayak Iban Association.

They said the proper “historical correction” to be done is to redistribute the Dewan Rakyat seats given to Singapore before it left the federation in 1965 to Sabah and Sarawak.

When Malaysia was formed as a federation in 1963, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore received more than 34% of the seats in the Dewan Rakyat.

The group was responding to support from others such as Bersih, Tindak Malaysia, Rise of Social Efforts, and ENGAGE for a proposal of veto power for East Malaysia in the Senate as a way to realise the spirit of the 1963 Malaysia Agreement.

Advocacy group Projek Sama made the proposal earlier, saying that giving 15 additional Senate seats each for Sabah and Sarawak could ensure one-third veto power to block any unilateral constitutional amendments by Peninsular Malaysia.

Sabah and Sarawak currently have only 7.1% representation in the Senate.

Projek Sama said the proposal, dubbed Dewan Negara 35/100, would give East Malaysia 35% of Senate seats and ensure that Sabah and Sarawak have a stronger voice in the legislative process.