PARTI Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), which is the backbone party of the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) state government, wants to be given new state constituencies in Miri that will be created in the ongoing electoral boundary re-delineation exercise.
Miri is traditionally under the control of Sarawak United Peoples Party (SUPP) which is also a GPS component party.
A PBB branch chief in Miri, Ariffin Mohamad, tabled a resolution during a party delegates branch meeting in Miri staking a claim to the new Miri seats being carved out.
"PBB must be given the right over new state constituencies in Miri so that we in PBB can have representation in Miri.
"We in PBB also want more Miri councillors posts to be given to us and a senator post to represent northern Sarawak in the Senate," he told the media.
SUPP controls three state constituencies in Miri, namely Piasau, Pujut and Senadin.
Last year, SUPP leaders also staked their claims to the new seats in Miri being re-delineated.
Sarawak may get up to 10 new parliamentary constituencies if the re-delineation of parliamentary electoral boundaries in this state is carried out thoroughly.
Each of these 10 new parliamentary constituencies will see two new state constituencies created if the normal criteria was followed whereby every parliamentary seat has two to three state seats.
.jpg)
The Vibes had learned that the electoral boundary re-delineation proposed for Sarawak is targeted to create 10 new parliamentary seats with three new ones in northern Sarawak, three new ones in central Sarawak and four in southern Sarawak.
Sources in GPS and in Sarawak Pakatan Harapan hinted that in northern Sarawak, the three new parliamentary seats will be carved out in the existing districts of Baram, Miri and Bintulu with each of these districts divided into two parliamentary seats.
In central Sarawak, the existing parliamentary constituencies of Ulu Rajang, and Kapit will each be divided into two, and the existing boundary of Sibu and Sarikei will see the creation of a new parliamentary seat.
In southern Sarawak, the existing parliamentary 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.
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 readjustment 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 were created in Sarawak, there would be at least 20 new state seats carved out as well.
Sarawak, the biggest state in Malaysia, has 31 parliamentary seats in the Dewan Rakyat now and 82 state seats in the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly.
If the 10 new parliamentary seats were created and gazetted, Sarawak would have 41 parliamentary constituencies and at least 102 state constituencies. - January 6, 2025
