Idris Buang said the IGC was made in line with recommendations by the Cobbold Commission when formulating the framework of the Federal Constitution to include the interests and safeguards of the Borneo states.
The Cobbold Commission was set up to determine whether the people of Sabah and Sarawak backed the proposal to create the federation of Malaysia, which also initially comprised Singapore.
Idris said the spirit of the formation of Malaysia, as far as the Borneo states were concerned, was cemented by the emphasis made by the commission that Sabah and Sarawak should be equal partners to Malaya.
The Cobbold Commission would not allow Malaya to “dominate absolutely”, he said.
“It is in this respect that the seats in Parliament were increased (on the formation of Malaysia) from 104 to 159, of which 24 were allocated to Sarawak, 16 to Sabah, and 15 to Singapore,” he was quoted as saying.
This distribution gave the total number of seats for Singapore and the Borneo states at 55, or 35%.
Idris said the IGC also stated that the proportion of seats allocated respectively to Sarawak and Sabah should not be reduced, except by reason of the granting of seats to any other new state during a period of seven years after Malaysia Day.
“The keywords are ‘should not be reduced’. This is to reflect the emphasis given by the Cobbold Commission, which underscores the aforesaid spirit of formation of Malaysia that the Borneo states should not be subjected to any domination by Malaya.
“It is a form of safeguard to the interests of the Borneo states,” he said.
He said former Dewan Rakyat speaker Azhar Harun was, therefore, “simply fallacious and sadly wrong” by claiming otherwise.
On Sept 24, Azhar said there was nothing in the MA63, the Federal Constitution, the Malaysia Act 1963 as well as the IGC report that specified that Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore were to occupy 35% of the seats in the Dewan Rakyat.
He also said there was no clause stipulating that in the event Singapore were to separate from Malaysia, its seats must be given to Sabah and Sarawak.
Idris said as MA63 was now part of the Federal Constitution by virtue of the 2022 amendments, it provided the “legal basis” for all the claims by Sarawak and Sabah.
Yesterday, a senior Gabungan Parti Sarawak leader also disputed Azhar’s take on the matter.
Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said Azhar had not undertaken deeper research into the historical agreements and conventions leading to Malaysia’s formation.