THE Gabungan Parti Sarawak state government has submitted an official working paper to Putrajaya asking for significant increases in the number of parliamentary constituencies for the biggest state in Malaysia.
The State Legislative Assembly today heard that the state 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 in the works.
Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Ghazali, state deputy minister in the Premier’s Office in charge of law and Malaysia Agreement negotiations, told the assembly in Kuching that the east Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah should have 35% of parliamentary seats in the Dewan Rakyat.
Currently, of the 222 seats in the lower house, 31 parliamentary constituencies are in Sarawak while 25 are in Sabah.
Hasidah said during a question-and-answer session that the representatives of the state government are engaging in advanced negotiations with the federal secretary to Sarawak.
“We are indeed asking for more new parliamentary seats to be created in Sarawak,” she said.
“The working paper on this has been drawn up, with negotiations with our Sabah government counterparts also being carried out.
“Sabah is also asking for more new parliamentary seats,” she said.
Hasidah did not reveal the number of new parliamentary seats Sarawak is seeking.
“We are very hopeful that Sarawak will get the new seats that we are asking for in line with our rights under the Malaysia Agreement 1963.
“The new seats for Sarawak and Sabah will hopefully help us secure the 35% Dewan Rakyat seats that east Malaysia states should have,” she said.
She said the final decision on this would 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 had tabled a comprehensive report to parliament complete with details of a major re-delineation of electoral boundaries in Sarawak.
Senator Abun Sui Anyit had said the EC report was tabled to parliament in the first week of October via the Dewan Rakyat.
The last such re-delineation exercise carried out in Sarawak was eight years ago, said the Sarawak PKR deputy chairman and state Pakatan Harapan information chief.
This followed an earlier report by The Vibes that at least two new large parliamentary constituencies for Sarawak have been tentatively approved, each from divisions in the current Miri and Hulu Rajang seats.
Abun had said the EC must start the process of briefing every political party in Sarawak with regards to the new constituencies being drawn up. – The Vibes, November 23, 2023
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