Violet Yong (DAP-Pending) said the move to increase the number of seats in the state assembly from 82 to 99 was “untimely, unfair, unnecessary and politically motivated”.
“The Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) state government is only adding new seats where it can win, not where they’re actually needed based on the number of voters.
“This is gerrymandering dressed up as reform,” she told the state assembly in a special sitting today.
Yong also said the increase in state seats was being done without public consultation and would only worsen the unequal value of votes between ballots cast in rural and urban constituencies.
“In my own constituency, Pending, there are nearly 30,000 voters based on 2021 figures. Gedong, a rural seat, has fewer than 10,000. Yet both elect one assemblyman. This means a vote in Gedong carries almost three times more weight than a vote in Pending.
“If GPS is going to propose two new state seats within the federal constituency of Petra Jaya, why not also add two more seats in (the federal constituencies of) Bandar Kuching or Stampin?” she asked.
Both the Bandar Kuching and Stampin parliamentary seats are held by DAP. Yong’s constituency of Pending falls within Bandar Kuching.
Yong also said that adding the new seats would be costly, and came at a time when many Sarawakians were struggling with the rising cost of living and inadequate basic facilities.
“The GPS government has chosen to prioritise adding more politicians instead of addressing the people’s real needs,” she said.
Chong Chieng Jen (DAP-Padungan) also opposed the proposed increase in state assembly seats, saying Sarawak’s large land area alone does not justify adding more representatives.
He said Sarawak’s ratio of voters to elected representatives was already low and manageable compared to other large regions, such as in Australia.
“In Victoria, one assemblyman serves 79,000 voters. In New South Wales, it’s about 90,000. In contrast, here in Sarawak, one assemblyman serves only about 34,000 voters and covers 1,517 sq km,” Chong said.
He said even given Sarawak’s vast land area of 124,450 sq km, the current 82-seat composition still meant a lighter workload per representative than in many Australian states.
“With the proposed increase, the ratio would fall further, to one assemblyman for every 25,454 people and 1,257 sq km,” he said.
Speaker Asfia Awang Nassar then interjected, reminding Chong that “Sarawak is in Malaysia, not Australia”.
Chong responded that he was merely providing a comparative example. He added that Sarawak would be better served by pushing for more parliamentary seats instead.
He said that despite being the largest state in Malaysia, Sarawak’s representation in Parliament remained relatively small at only 31 out of 222 MPS.
“It would be more strategic for us to capitalise on our kingmaker’s role at the federal level by increasing our parliamentary seats,” he said.
Before Chong began his debate, Asfia warned him not to challenge the legal basis for the seat increase.
He added that the redrawing of electoral boundaries was under the jurisdiction of the Election Commission (EC), not the Sarawak government.
“It is the EC that conducts, from time to time, the delineation of boundaries – not the GPS government, and not this assembly. That is my ruling,” Asfia said.