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REPORT ON THE SABAH STATE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY GENERAL ELECTION, 1967 PART I INTRODUCTORY
The State Legislative Assembly election held in 1967 in the State of Sabah was significant in Malaysian history as being first direct election ever held in the State and the first State general election held after its entry into Malaysia. It was also significant in that it afforded an opportunity to the people of Sabah to reaffirm in a free and democratic manner through general elections, their previous decision about their status in Malaysia-a main provision in the Peace Treaty entered into by the Governments the of Indonesia and Malaysia on the ending of Confrontation and the resumption of diplomatic relations. Prior to the holding of this election, the elections in Sabah were based on the tier system, namely, to the State Legislative Assembly from electoral colleges formed at local government level. Under the Malaysia Act (No. 26 of 1963) which promulgated Sabah's entry into Malaysia, a provision was made for a period of indirect elections, namely
"94. (1) In the Borneo States there shall be a period of indirect elections to the House of Representatives and to the Legislative Assembly and Part VIII of the Constitution shall not have effect for the purpose of any election during that period to that House or Assembly.
(2) The period of indirect elections in any State shall be for elections to the House of Representatives, the period up to the first dissolution of Parliament occurring after the end of August 1968 or, for elections to the Legislative Assembly, the first dissolution of that Assembly so occurring:
Provided that with the concurrence of the Governor of a State the Yang di-Pertuan Agong may by order direct that this sub-section shall have effect in relation to the State with the substitution of an earlier date for the end of August 1968.
(3) During the period of indirect elections in a State the members of the House of Representatives from the State shall be elected by the Legislative Assembly in accordance with such procedure as may be prescribed by order of the Governor made with the concurrence of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the order may either require the elections to be made from among members of the Assembly or permit others to be elected.
(4) During the period of indirect elections in a State elected members of the Legislative Assembly shall be elected as may be provided by federal or State law." On 22nd December, 1964, the Chief Minister of Sabah informed the Election Commission that the State Legislative Assembly of Sabah had passed a motion requesting the Election Commission to initiate action for the holding of direct election to the State Legislative Assembly. On 20th January, 1965, the Chief Minister made a formal request to the Prime Minister that the Federal Government should proceed with the holding of direct election to the State Legislative Assembly.
At that time, the Election Commission bad not as yet extended their activities to Sabah as it was quite soon after the establisment of Malaysia and in view of the existence under the Malaysia Act of the provisions for the period of indirect elections the State of Sabah. Moreover, during the period between the establishment of Malaysia, 16th September, 1963 and April 1964, the Commission was then involved in the enormous task preparing for the simultaneous general elections to Parliament and The State Legislative Assemblies in West Malaysia. Even so, the Commission acted quite expeditiously on the request of the Chief Minister of Sabah. In January 1965, the Commission visited the State and consulted the State Government on matters appertaining to the holding of direct elections in that State, including such matters as the setting up Jesselton. the posting of an election officer to take charge of election matters the State, the delimitation of constituencies, the registration electors. the conduct of elections and the recruitment of regist tion and polling officials. As result of this visit an election office was established in Jesselton on Ist March, 1965 and was put under the charge of Mr L S. Dixon, an officer of the Sabah Administrative Service who was later replaced by Enche' H. S. Sidhu, a Supervisor of Elections from West Malaysia in August 1965.
On 10th May, 1965 the Election Commission Ordinance, 1957 was extended to the State by the Modification of Laws (Election Commission) (Extension to Sabah) Order, 1965 vide Federal Legal Notification No. 202 of 1965, dated 20th May 1965. With extension of this legislation, the sphere of activities of the Comission was now extended to the State of Sabah and Commission was therefore enabled to commence work in the State, starting with the delimitation of constituencies to be followed by the registration of electors and the conduct of elections. Delimitation of Constituencies
An essential preliminary to the holding of elections is the delimitation of constituencies, Parliamentary and State.
In early August 1965. the Election Commission paid another visit to Sabah and discussed delimitation proposals with Residents in Sabah. The Commission finalised the delimitat proposals in October 1965 and their proposed recommendation were displayed to the members of the public on Ist November, 1965 in accordance with the requirements of Section 96 (4) of the Malaysia Act. In the month of December 1965. the Commission submitted to the Prime Minister a Report containing their recommendations on the delimitation. Subsequently, the Prime Minister tabled the Report before the Dewan Rakyat during the paliamentary sitting in March 1966 together with the draft of an 0rder for giving effect to the recommendations contained in the Report. The draft Order was approved without modifications by Dewan Rakyat on 25th March, 1966.
With the passage of the Delimitation of Constituencies (Sabah) Order, 1966 as published in the Federal Gazette vade Legal Notofication No. 182 of 1966 dated 21st April, 1966, 16 Parliamentary and 32 State Constituencies were delimited for the State of Sabah . Legislative Framework
On 9th December, 1965, the State Legislative Assembly of Sabah passed an enactment prescribing the number of elected members of the Legislative Assembly to be 32. This enactment was the Legislative Assembly (Elected Members) Enactment No. 16 of 1965. On 20th December, 1965 the Assembly passed the constitution (Amendment) (No. 2) Enactment, 1966 Article 21 of the State Constitution to provide for a general election to the State Legislative Assembly to be held within 90 days from the date of dissolution of that Assembly and a period of 120 days within which the Assembly should be summoned to meet after dissolution. It should be noted that the corresponding periods for the West Malaysian States are 60 and 90 days respectively. Longer periods are, however. necessary for Sabah owing to the extensiveness of the area and the difficulties of communications prevailing therein.
For the purpose of conducting the election it was necessary to introduce electoral laws to be made applicable in Sabab The Commission's main consideration when tackling the subject was that there should be uniform electoral laws for the whole of Malaysia, including Sabah, and later on, Sarawak. The laws to be framed for Sabah were thus to follow very closely the pattern of those existing and applicable in West Malaysia subject, of course, to necessary modifications, having regard to local conditions and circumstances.
There are generally very few modifications noteworthy of mention. Of the few notable ones, mention is made under the appropriate headings in this Report. The laws were introduced piecemeal or in stages to meet demanding circumstances as and when a particular field of activity was to be carried out. Thus the regulations on registration, for example, were introduced earlier than the regulations appertaining to the conduct of elections.
The Elections Ordinance, 1958 and the Election Offences Ordinance, 1954 were extended to the State of Sabah vide the Modification of Laws (Election Offences and Elections) (Extension to Sabah) Order, 1966 (L.N. 56 of 1966) dated 8th February, 1966 as amended by L.N. 498/166 dated 29th December, 1966 The under-mentioned legislation came into force on the following dates:
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