While I welcome the announcement of an agreed 35% Parliament seat for Sabah and Sarawak, more importantly, now that it is promised and endorsed by the MA63 committee, I urge it be implemented as soon as possible and not merely be left a mere promise especially before the elections.
The additional Parliamentary seats allocations to both Sabah & Sarawak is part of the safeguards that was places in MA63 to ensure that the Federal Constitution is not simply amended at the expense of the interest of Sarawakians or Sabahans.
Such safeguards were in place, until Singapore exited Malaysia and thus it is only right such safeguards be restored to both these Borneo region.
Many may not fully understand that this is not an argument about population or even the size of GDP, but rights and safeguards agreed upon during the formation of Malaysia which was eroded during the previous Barisan Nasional(BN) government.
However, while i welcome such additional seats it must be crafted to ensure it is as close as can be to the principle for fairness and value of “1 person one vote where the “weight and worth of the citizens’ votes as nearly as is practicable must be the same”
That means such new constituency must be crafted out from more populous constituency, mainly in the urban areas, not the less populated ones in the rural area.
As a result of large differences in constituency size, the value of votes is not equal across constituencies.
For example my constituency of Bandar Kuching has more than 130k voters, and yet they only vote in 1 elected representative while a constituency such as Batang Sadong 23k also elects a single representative. That means a vote is Batang Sadong is worth almost 6x more than Bandar Kuching.
We cannot water down further the value of one person as what we have seen over the years due to unfair gerrymandering.
That is why I urge that public consultation must be done extensively in spirit of accountability and transparency to decide upon the boundaries if each new constituency.
We cannot allow our rights to be abused for unfair and excessive gerrymandering purely just to benefit those in power.
The electoral system and redelineation must follow international standards, not tied to one that fits the system and interests of those in power.
Such safeguards are for the people and thus the democratic value of each ones vote must be main consideration for the formation of new constituencies.