GEORGE TOWN: The Penang government, worried that the Election Commission (EC) may use the methods employed in its delineation review of state seats in Sarawak, is seeking an urgent meeting with the election body.

The state government’s representative committee on electoral delineation said it would immediately seek a meeting with the state EC to gather feedback to prevent some seats from having too few or too many voters. “It is a mess in Sarawak and we don’t want [the process in] Penang to be like this,” said Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin. “We want the Penang EC to be better when it conducts the delineation exercise here,” he told a press conference in Komtar yesterday.

On Monday, the EC proposed to increase the number of state seats in Sarawak by 11 seats, from the current 71 to 82. The proposed seats are Batu Kitang (designated as N13), Stakan (N17), Serembu (N18), Triboh (N23), Gedong (N26), Kabong (N40), Telian (N57), Selirik (N63) Murum (N66), Samalaju (N70) and Long Lama (N78). Gedong will have an electorate of 6,340 voters, while Batu Kitang will have 20,107 voters.

Sim said the difference between the number of voters in the two new seats was 215%. “The difference is too huge ... with this kind of delineation process, our confidence [in the EC] is shaken.”

Sim said the delineation process so far had not been transparent and urged the EC to explain how it had come up with its proposal for the new seats. He also said having too many voters in a single state constituency was not good for the people.

The assemblyman would have difficulty serving his electorate and due to limited time and resources, many in the constituency would end up not getting representation, he said.

Sim also illustrated his point by comparing the Sarawak’s Mas Gading parliamentary seat and his seat in Bayan Baru. He said if Mas Gading with its electorate of just 26,171 voters has one MP, Bayan Baru — with over 80,000 voters — should have four MPs.

“This is why civil society and Pakatan Rakyat parties have long argued that we should revert to the principle of “one person, one vote, one value” so there will be more balance among the number of voters in the different seats,” he said.

Penang has 40 state seats in 13 parliamentary constituencies. Out of the total, only 10 are held by Barisan Nasional through Umno.

It was reported that the EC was exhibiting the proposal for the constituency delineation review for Sarawak for a period of one month from Jan 5 to Feb 4 at specified places in the boundary reconstruction notice. It was reported that the Sarawak state assembly approved a bill to increase the number of members of the assembly from the current 71 to 82. Following the announcement by the EC, opposition lawmakers reacted angrily to the proposed redelineation of state seats.

Sarawak PKR is now also threatening to file for a court injunction to stop the exercise. State PKR chief Baru Bian said the EC has seven days to provide full and detailed disclosure on its proposal and the list of voters affected by the exercise.

“We are of the view that the details that are disclosed are not sufficient for voters to raise any objection,” he reportedly said on Tuesday. Baru noted that the proposed new seats were all, except one, in the semi-urban/rural areas and in areas with largely bumiputera voters. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on January 8, 2015.