Sarawak may get 10 new parliamentary seats

SARAWAK may get up to 10 new parliamentary constituencies if the re-delineation of parliamentary electoral boundaries in this huge state is carried out thoroughly. 

Each of the projected 10 new parliamentary constituencies will then see two new state constituencies created within their boundaries, if the normal criteria are followed whereby every parliamentary seat should have two or three state seats. 

The Vibes has learned that the electoral boundary re-delineation proposed for Sarawak is targetted to create 10 new seats with three new ones in northern Sarawak, three in central Sarawak and four in southern Sarawak. 

Sources in Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) and Sarawak Pakatan Harapan (PH) hinted that in northern Sarawak, the three new parliamentary seats will be carved out from the existing seats (districts) of Baram, Miri and Bintulu. It is expected that each of these current constituencies will be further divided into two parliamentary seats. 

In central Sarawak, the existing constituencies of Ulu Rajang and Kapit will also each be divided into two, and the existing boundary area between Sibu and Sarikei will be made into a seat. 

In southern Sarawak, the constituencies of Bandar Kuching, Stampin, Samarahan and Serian will see extensive realignment of their electoral borders to carve out another four new parliamentary seats. 

That southern Sarawak cluster has a huge population of nearly a million people already. 

The state capital Kuching, which encompasses Bandar Kuching and Stampin parliamentary seats, has a population of about 700,000. 

Sources told The Vibes that the Chinese majority areas in southern Sarawak will be seeing major electoral boundary readjustments for the new seats. 

Traditionally in Sarawak, each parliamentary constituency has two or three state constituencies depending on the population size. 

This means that if the 10 new proposed parliamentary seats are created in Sarawak, there will be at least 20 new state seats carved out as well. 

Sarawak, the biggest state in Malaysia, has 31 parliamentary seats in Dewan Rakyat at present, and 82 seats in its state assembly. 

If the 10 new parliamentary seats are created and gazetted, Sarawak will have 41 parliamentary constituencies and at least 102 state ones. 

On November 23, the GPS state government confirmed it had submitted an official working paper to Putrajaya asking for a major increase in the number of parliamentary constituencies within the state. 

The state assembly that day heard that Sarawak is already having full-scale negotiations with all the relevant federal agencies on this, with a final submission to the highest level of the Prime Minister’s Office to be made soon. 

Negotiations with Sabah 

State Deputy Minister in the Premier’s Office in charge of Law and Malaysia Agreement negotiations, Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Ghazali, has said the east Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah need to have 35% of parliamentary seats in Dewan Rakyat. 

Currently Sarawak has 31 parliamentary constituencies while Sabah has 25 out of the 222 seats in Dewan Rakyat. 

The working paper on this has been drawn up, with negotiations with counterparts in the Sabah government also being carried out. 

Hasidah did not reveal the number of new parliamentary seats that Sarawak was seeking. 

She said the final decision on this will be made by the Malaysia Agreement Action Council and the prime minister who chairs the council. 

On November 11, The Vibes reported that the Election Commission (EC) had tabled a comprehensive report to parliament, complete with details of a major re-delineation of electoral boundaries in Sarawak. 

The report was tabled in the first week of October at the Dewan Rakyat. 

Senator Abun Sui, who is Sarawak PH information chief, had said the EC must start the process of briefing every political party in Sarawak with regards to the new constituencies being drawn up. 

He also called on the EC to deploy its staff to remote places where scattered populations of natives still live, to brief them on how their boundaries will be affected. – The Vibes, December 6, 2023.