(May 15): The Election Commission's (EC) redelineation exercise in Sarawak was turned into an exercise of futility today after it was ordered by the Kuching High Court to republish its notice to redraw the state's electoral boundaries.

The ruling means the polls body will have to start its boundary redrawing exercise all over again.

The court this afternoon ordered EC to republish the notice “in full compliance with the provisions contained in the Thirteenth Schedule of the Federal Constitution”.

Justice Yew Jen Kie, in her ruling on the judicial review brought by Batu Lintang assemblyman See Chee How and a voter in Ulu Baram, Pauls Baya, agreed with See's contention that there was a serious and considerable lack of details in the January 5 notice for people who are affected to make a decision.

Yew said it was essential for EC to publish the electoral roll, the list of proposed changes and the areas affected so the public would know how they would be affected by the redrawing.

She said the failure of the EC to publish the notice in detail had breached the requirements spelt out in the Federal Constitution.

The EC made, what See described as a “desperate attempt”, to get the court declare the judicial review academic as the delineation had already been completed by submitting an affidavit in opposition this morning.

State election commission deputy director Suraini Saruji in the affidavit said the local hearings have been completed and that the EC was in the midst of preparing a report to be submitted to the prime minister and Parliament.

Azizan Mohd Arshad, a senior federal counsel representing the EC, told reporters outside the court, the redrawing process would restart depended if the EC decides to appeal the court's decision.

He said the decision to appeal would have to come from the Attorney-General.

When contacted, a spokesman said EC would issue a statement soon after scrutinising the court decision.

The EC has two years – from the day the Sarawak state assembly approved the increase of the state seats by 11 in November last year – to complete the redelineation exercise.

“I am very happy. At least I did something to contribute to the whole process being transparent,” said See, who is also PKR Sarawak vice-chairman.

“At least we will know that in future, there will be more accountability in the exercise.”

In their application for the judicial review, See and Baya had argued the EC had “abridged, restricted and/or impaired their rights to have notice of the effect of the EC's proposed recommendations and has acted in error and or breaching the provisions of the Federal Constitution”.

See and Baya applied for the leave for an ex parte application for a judicial review of the exercise on February 2 with the court granting them the leave on February 17.

They were seeking to have the court declare the EC's notification that was published in two Sarawak regional newspapers, two national papers and one Sabah newspaper was not in compliance with the provisions contained in the Thirteenth Schedule of the Federal Constitution as the papers were not in circulation in the constituency to be redrawn.

See, representing himself, and Baya also argued that the EC had failed to publish the notice in a newspaper that is widely circulated in the constituencies affected.

See said the New Sarawak Tribune and its Malay language sister paper Utusan Sarawak have limited circulation in Sarawak, and he has “affidavit evidence filed” to show that these papers have no circulation in various rural centres whose voters are affected as required by the law.

He said the same was with the national newspapers NST, Utusan Malaysia and the Sabah Borneo Post.

Justice Yew agreed with the contention saying the purpose of the publication was to bring to notice the EC's proposals to the voters so they could make the right decisions.

“It is essential for the voters to know what will be changed in the constituency, in what manner or even whether they will be transferred to another constituency.”

Various civil society groups in the country, including Bersih, Tindak Malaysia and the Rise of Sarawak Effort have assisted PKR in their research to build their legal case for this application. – The Malaysian Insider