Soh said Malaysia’s founding fathers had recognised the need for such a provision to ensure the constitutional rights of the Borneo states could not be altered by a constitutional amendment without the support of MPs from Sabah and Sarawak.
“A one-third representation will ensure that the Borneo states have a greater participation and say in Malaysia’s future,” he said in a report in The Borneo Post.
“We should perceive this issue through a ‘nation-building’ lens. I am optimistic that further progress on this issue will be made with support from the respective attorneys-general, continued discussions, and political will.”
Soh was speaking during the opening of the 2025 Legal Year for Sabah and Sarawak in Kuching today.
When Malaysia was formed in 1963, Malaya was allocated 105 of the 160 seats in the Dewan Rakyat (representing 65% of the voting power in the House), with Sarawak holding 24 seats, Sabah 16 and Singapore 15.
This denied Malaya the two-thirds majority required to amend the Federal Constitution. But after Singapore’s departure, its 15 seats were not redistributed to Sabah and Sarawak, causing the two Borneo states to lose their veto power.
Sarawak premier Abang Johari Openg was previously reported to have said the allocation of one-third of Dewan Rakyat seats to the East Malaysian states would prevent the federal government from trying to nullify the Malaysia Agreement 1963 provisions on its own.
The Dewan Rakyat presently comprises 222 members, with Sabah and Sarawak allocated 25 and 31 seats respectively, for a combined 25.2% share of voting power.
The lower house’s present make-up allows 148 of the 166 MPs from Peninsular Malaysia to push through constitutional amendments.
Last November, deputy prime minister Fadillah Yusof had said that one-third of parliamentary seats could only be allocated to Sabah and Sarawak after the 16th general election.
Fadillah said the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the attorney-general’s departments in Sabah and Sarawak have been given time to discuss the matter.