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SHAH ALAM - Government’s proposal to carry out the redelineation of parliamentary constituencies in Sabah and Sarawak is expected to face a difficult path as it requires the support of two-thirds of MPs in the Dewan Rakyat.
Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) political analyst Associate Professor Dr Syahruddin Awang Ahmad said the expectation took into account current political developments in the country.
According to him, the Federal leadership needs to build strong bipartisan consensus to approve the matter.
“Both sides, namely the Opposition and government, will debate the need for redelineation to be carried out at this late stage of the Unity Government’s administration.
“In addition, there is a very short period of time for the Election Commission (EC) to carry out the redelineation procedures if there is no special parliamentary sitting or if the redelineation motion does not receive the support of MPs.
“Sabah and Sarawak MPs, meanwhile, will demand or push for this redelineation initiative by invoking Article 161E, which provides constitutional protection for Sabah and Sarawak, namely legal provisions that provide special protection to the two states so that their rights and powers cannot be amended without special consent,” he told Sinar.
Communications Minister Datuk Seri Fahmi Fadzil was previously reported as saying that the Federal Government would seek to expedite the redelineation process following the agreement to amend the Federal Constitution relating to the matter.
He said the process had already begun and the Election Commission (EC) now had several matters to resolve before making a further statement on the next steps.
Syahruddin further said although a simple majority might not be sufficient to amend Article 46 of the Federal Constitution, as Opposition and independent MPs were expected to use the negotiation process to demand adjustments or a redrawing of electoral constituencies in Peninsular Malaysia, the agenda of strengthening the Borneo region could still be achieved.
He said this could be achieved if the government offered a balanced formula for seat allocation and avoided perceptions of favouritism among leaders and elected representatives from political parties in Peninsular Malaysia in order to maintain political stability at the national level.
Meanwhile, when asked whether the government’s decision to increase the ratio of representation for Sabah and Sarawak could open up opportunities for a larger redelineation process involving the entire country, he agreed.
“MPs from Peninsular Malaysia, especially those representing highly populated urban areas with a significant gap in the number of voters, would automatically also demand that their constituencies be adjusted.
“The imbalance between urban and new town areas actually exists when some constituencies have hundreds of thousands of voters compared with rural areas.
“This happens when new towns emerge within urban areas, causing population migration from other areas to settle in these locations,” he said.
He added that initiating the redelineation of electoral constituencies in Borneo was also expected to create reasonable political pressure on the government to conduct a comprehensive review of electoral constituencies nationwide to ensure equitable representation throughout Malaysia.
He said if Sabah and Sarawak succeeded in increasing their number of seats, the redelineation of constituencies would indirectly establish a new benchmark for the distribution of political power and the overall number of parliamentary seats in Malaysia.
“This redelineation process will also clearly become a specific topic of institutional reform and heated political rhetoric ahead of the 16th General Election,” he said.
