Dr Jayum Jawan
KUCHING (July 8): The increase in the number of elected people’s representatives in Sarawak is timely based on the need to review representation in the State Legislative Assembly (DUN), says an academician.
This is usually facilitated by the need to study constituency size and population increase, says Datuk Prof Dr Jayum Jawan, a fellow of Academy of Sciences Malaysia cum adjunct professor of the Institute of Borneo Studies of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas).
“Sarawak has been grossly misrepresented. We have a rural constituency that is as huge as the state of Pahang and yet, it is represented by a single member Parliament.
“Suggestions from Tamin assemblyman Christopher Gira Sambang might be a little too late.
“He was reported to have suggested that at least eight state seats and one parliamentary seat should come from the Tamin-Selanggau area.
“This could be political rhetoric because if he really felt so, he should have moved the suggestion through his party, PRS (Parti Rakyat Sarawak), and have that brought to the attention of the GPS (Gabungan Parti Sarawak, the state’s ruling coalition),” he said in a statement yesterday.
Jayum also acknowledged the questioning by members of the Opposition over the motive of increasing the number of DUN Sarawak seats by 15.
“The drawing of the constituencies is claimed (by the Opposition) to be ‘unfair’, ‘unnecessary’ and ‘politically motivated’.
“The vote disparities between constituencies in Sarawak were compared to those in Australia in arguing this point.
“But that same argument is weak because certain constituencies in Rajang River Basin are huge and yet, each has only one representative.
“Some urban areas such as Kuching and Sibu have several seats, both state and Parliament.”
On Monday, DUN Sarawak passed the Composition of Membership Bill 2025 on a special one-day sitting to approve the size increase of the DUN by 17 seats, from the present 82 to 99.
The last redelineation exercise in Sarawak was held by the Election Commission (EC) in 2015, after the DUN approved the size increase by 11 seats to 82 in 2014.