Sabah needs more seats in view of increased population — EC

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Md Idrus (left) greets one of the exhibit assistants who attended the talk while  Md Yusop (second left) looks on.

Md Idrus (left) greets one of the exhibit assistants who attended the talk while Md Yusop (second left) looks on.

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah needs more seats with the increase in population and to ensure the elected representatives serve the people on the ground better, said Sabah Election Commission (EC) director, Datuk Md Idrus Ismail.

Md Idrus said, the exhibit of the proposed re-delineation of electoral boundaries would be exhibited to the public next year, where it will show the additional new seats and possibly realignment of electoral boundaries, if any.

Md Idrus, however, remained tight-lipped about whether new seats would be added to Sabah, saying that it was the decision of the EC.

“You just have to wait. I cannot say because the decision is made by the (Election) Commission. Not me. I am just the administrator.” He said this when asked by the media after the opening ceremony of a talk involving the assistants of the exhibit on the proposed redrawing of electoral boundaries here yesterday.

The talk, which explains the roles and responsibilities of the exhibit assistants, was officiated by EC member, Datuk Md Yusop Mansor.

Sabah currently has 60 state seats and 25 parliamentary seats.

He said the additional seats were necessary because of the increase in population.

“Sabah is a big state, like Sarawak. It is less populated than Peninsular Malaysia, but we need to have elected representatives to serve the people on the ground better.” Md Idrus said, the new seats added to Sarawak was to cater for the development in the state, especially in the rural areas.

“For Sabah, we will follow the same criteria as Sarawak.” He said, the increase of seats in Sabah was logical given some areas are as large as Pahang, whiles some areas take up to two days to get there.

“What we do is for the benefit of Sabahans so that they can get better access to their YB (elected representative).”

The Dewan Rakyat has approved the motion tabled on Wednesday seeking to raise by 11 to 82 the number of state constituencies in Sarawak.

The number of parliamentary constituencies in Sarawak remains at 31 but some had their boundaries altered to suit the creation of the 11 state constituencies.

On another note, Md Idrus said, voters would have a month to submit their suggestions and objections for review after the date of exhibit on the proposed re-delineation of electoral boundaries in 60 constituencies, though the exact date for the exhibit has yet to be decided by the EC.

He said there are three groups who could raise their objections to the proposed re-delineation of electoral boundaries, including the State Government, local authority (PBT) and a group of minimum 100 people, who are voters in the particular constituency.

Md Idrus said the objections and suggestions would be reviewed by the EC, followed by a local hearing and a second round of exhibits involving those who raised protest against the proposed re-delineation of boundaries.

After that, the outcome will be finalized and submitted to the Prime Minister to be tabled in Parliament for debate and voting, he said.

“If the realignment (of electoral boundaries) is not acceptable, they (voters) can propose a new alignment.

If we feel that their proposal is good, maybe we will take it up.”

Meanwhile, Md Yusop said, the re-delineation exercise in Sabah has been delayed by one to two years because the EC wanted to concentrate on the redrawing of electoral boundaries in Sarawak as the state would be holding its state election before June next year.

He said the EC has started the re-delineation exercise in Sabah a long time ago and it must be completed within two years.