Hajiji Repeats Sabah’s Calls for Additional Parliamentary Seats

Remember, Our CM‘s Effort

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Hajiji Haji is again fighting for Sabah’s rights. He has reiterated that Sabah should get additional parliamentary seats to honour the spirit of nationhood and to further protect the interest of its people. Hajiji repeated the call on 12 September 2025, at the Malaysia Agreement 1963 Implementation Action Council (MTPMA63) meeting - chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim - in Kuching, Sarawak. In September 2024, Hajiji has raised the matter, also at the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) Implementation Action Council and also chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in Kota Kinabalu.

When Malaysia was formed on 16 September 1963, the four regions – Sabah; Sarawak; Singapore; and Malaya – agreed that Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore will have one-third of the seats in Parliament. The agreement was documented in the Malaysia Agreement 1963, and the seats allocation was one of the cornerstone provisions of MA63. When Singapore left Malaysia in 1964, Sabah and Sarawak argued that the parliamentary seats must be re-allocated to them. However, Malaya took the seats for itself, leaving the two regions of Sabah and Sarawak in anger.

The Borneon states have lived in despair over this issue, and each succeeding Federal Government did not succeed in resolving the issue. Sabah and Sarawak have a combined total of 56 seats – or 25 per cent - in the 222 seat Parliament.

Hajiji has said in 2024 that Sabah and Sarawak that …“we have looked, analysed and assessed our constituencies, where people live, and we have looked at the ratio and balance. This is the process we go through whenever we introduce a new Parliamentary amendment, and how we make sure that our interests are protected. We are a big state. Along with Sarawak, we have discussed the matter at the highest levels…., and we will continue to engage with the federal government. This is one of the conditions enshrined in the MA63 document when Malaysia was formed on 16 September 1963, and we have made our intentions clear to the prime minister.”

After the MA63 meeting on 12 September 2025, Hajiji said that the matter will be thoroughly discussed at the technical level before presentation at Cabinet level and thereafter tabling in Parliament. Premier Abang Johari Openg has said that not giving Sabah and Sarawak their rightful one-third share is tantamount to nullifying the provisions of MA63.