Senate having no veto power

Senate to have veto power, would not work for Sabah and Sarawak.

Malaysia’s Parliament is a bicameral legislature constituted by the House of Representatives (Dewan Rakyat), the Senate (Dewan Negara) and the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong. Dewan Rakyat is called the “Lower House” and Dewan Negara is called the “Upper House” of parliament. As the ultimate legislative body in Malaysia, Parliament is responsible for passing, amending and repealing acts of law. For Bills are to become law, they have to be debated and scrutinize by both the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara. But most often than not Bills passed to Dewan Negara seldom found serious debate.

 

The proposal to give veto power in the senate for Sabah and Sarawak, will not provide adequate protection. This is because senate could be controlled by the same party that controls the Dewan Rakyat – that is, the government of the day. If a Bill is passed in Dewan Rakyat, then the Bill would likely be passed by the senate too. This is because senators in the senate will have to ensure that that their party who is the government would rule the country through parliament without hitches. 

Policies that are passed by Dewan Rakyat are not required to be approved or be debated by the senators. Therefore, policies adverse to the interest of Sabah and Sarawak could not be controlled by MPs from Sabah and Sarawak if MPs from Malaya with their numbers at present voted for the policy to be implemented nationwide. To ensure policies and laws that would not be passed to the detriment of Sabah and Sarawak, it is advisable that all 222 seats be divided between Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak in equal seats. That is, the seats in Malaya has to be reduced and the seats for Sabah and Sarawak be increased with Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak to hold the same number of seats in parliament. We care not that a seat be represented by a few thousand voters only if seats are to be increased for Sabah and Sarawak. To protect the interest of Sabah and Sarawak, we need to make sure that no political parties from Malaya come to contest seats reserved for Sabah and Sarawak. 

If their presence could take away seats from Sabah and Sarawak then this would be against the interest of Sabah and Sarawak.

 

VOON LEE SHAN

President

4 February, 2023