Aligning himself with public sentiment, Mahathir said former Dewan Rakyat Speaker Mohamed Zahir Ismail had once raised similar concerns.

He said Zahir, who served from 1982 to 2004, opined that the large number of MPs led to lengthy debates and sittings.

“The public has been following the debates (in the Dewan Rakyat) and found that out of 222 MPs, only 10 participate meaningfully.

“The rest remain silent or do not argue intelligently,” Mahathir said in an X posting today.

He suggested that if only the active MPs were considered, a smaller group of around 100 would suffice to represent the people effectively.

“Adding more MPs will not lead to better debates. The country will not gain much from it,” he said.

Various political parties and analysts have previously called for a redelineation of election boundaries to address the uneven distribution of voters across constituencies.

Sabah and Sarawak, on the other hand, are advocating for a return to their previous allocation of one-third of parliamentary seats, as per the Malaysia Agreement 1963.

The last boundary review by the Election Commission took place in March 2018.

Last year, the Election Commission said the Federal Constitution provided for redelineation of electoral boundaries every eight years. The next redelineation would be due in 2026.

Any change in the constitution must be passed by the Dewan Rakyat with the agreement of two-thirds of MPs.

The Dewan Rakyat has 222 members, with Sabah and Sarawak holding 25.2% of the voting power, while 148 of the 166 Peninsular Malaysia MPs can push through constitutional amendments.