07-07-2025
- Politics
- New Straits Times
Sarawak assembly passes bill to increase membership to 99 as DAP rep is ejected
KUCHING: The Sarawak state assembly has passed a bill to increase its membership to 99 from the present 82.
The house also ejected DAP Padungan assemblyman Chong Chieng Jen from the assembly for obstructing government backbencher, Lo Khere Chiang (Batu Kitang), from debating the bill.
Chong, who is the Sarawak DAP chairman, refused to sit down and stop interrupting Lo.
This left Speaker Tan Sri Awang Asfia Awang Nassar with no choice but to call the sergeant-at-arms to escort Chong out.
Following partisan lines, lawmakers from the ruling Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) coalition voted for the increase while the two opposition assemblymen, Chong and Violet Yong (Pending), voted against.
The Bill only needed a simple majority to pass.
The four-party coalition of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), the lynchpin of the coalition, Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), the Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) and the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), holds 80 of the 82 seats in the legislature.
Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Minister, Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Hamzah, in tabling the Composition of Membership Bill 2025, said Sarawak's vast geographical expanse and the extensive area state representatives representing rural constituencies must cover were key reasons that necessitated the need to redraw the state's electoral boundaries.
He said the state, over the years, had witnessed significant demographic changes, urban expansion, and increasing demand for fair representation.
The increase, Karim said, will ensure the needs and concerns of the rakyat are more efficiently and effectively addressed.
"This proposed increase in the number of elected representatives is bold, reasonable, necessary and will enhance accessibility to the government," he said in today's special one-day sitting of the assembly to pass the bill.
Karim said he hoped the re-delineation exercise would be completed soon for the 17 seats to be contested in the coming state election, which is expected sometime next year, before the state government's mandate expires at year-end.
Sarawak is exercising its legal rights to increase the seats under Article 14 (1)( 3) of the State Constitution.
Karim said the proposed increase was also in line with Article 113 (II) of the Federal Constitution, which allows for a review of electoral boundaries after an interval of not less than eight years.
The last re-delineation exercise in Sarawak was carried out in 2015.
Karim said the assembly, as the legislative authority, "must remain dynamic and responsive to the evolving needs of our people ... to ensure that it continues to reflect the voices and aspirations of all Sarawakans."
He said there has been a significant increase in the state's population and number of voters since the last re-delineation exercise, especially with the voting age reduced from 21 to 18.
When the first direct election to the assembly, which was then known as the Council Negri, was held in 1969, the house had 48 elected members.
In 1985, the number rose to 56 and then 62 in 1995.
In 2005, the seats were increased by nine from 62 to 71.
