Proposed 17 new seats won’t be ready for next Sarawak state polls, says EC chairman

KUCHING (Sept 24): The proposed addition of 17 state constituencies under Sarawak’s redelineation exercise is not expected to be completed in time for the next state election, said Datuk Seri Ramlan Harun.

The Election Commission (EC) chairman said this is due to the term of the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly (DUN) expiring next February.

“Based on the work process that we need to go through, I do not expect us to be able to use this redelineation review for the upcoming state election.

“We will not make it in time,” he told reporters after visiting the display area for the 7th Sarawak Constituency Delimitation Review at the Kuching North City Commission (DBKU) lobby.

Ramlan said the EC needed to conduct extensive engagement with relevant parties at the initial stage before submitting its first proposal, which would require some time.

He said the EC could not determine yet whether the proposed 17 additional state constituencies would be changed following the current public display and representations received.

“I cannot say at this point because it is based on the nature of the objections or views that we receive later.

“If amendments or changes to the original proposal are necessary, we will implement them. But that will depend on the information we receive later,” he said.

Ramlan pointed out the current public display would end on Sept 30, after which the EC is expected to conduct hearings next month.

“We expect to complete that process in October.

“After that, from November onwards, there will be other processes before it is brought to Parliament,” he said.

The outcome of the redelineation exercise could also have implications for parliamentary constituency boundaries, he said, particularly in Sabah and Sarawak, following proposed constitutional amendments under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).

“As we are aware, the Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) recently stated that amendments to the Federal Constitution would be proposed under MA63.

“The proposed amendments will subsequently lead us to review the parliamentary boundaries as well, particularly in Sabah and Sarawak. God willing, we will look into that after this,” he said.

On whether the Sarawak redelineation exercise would need to be completed first before the parliamentary boundaries could be reviewed, he said this was not necessarily the case.

“It depends on the constitutional amendments that are being prepared,” he said.

On whether the review could still be completed quickly enough despite the next Parliament sitting being scheduled for next year, Ramlan said this would depend on the nature of the representations received.

“I cannot say at this point. If there are no objections, or if the objections we receive are straightforward and can be resolved quickly, God willing, we can complete the process quickly.

“But if the objections we receive require more detailed study, we will need some time to evaluate them,” he said.

Earlier, Ramlan said several EC teams had been deployed to different locations in Sarawak to inspect the implementation of the public display.

He said the teams will visit Lundu, Samarahan, and Padawan as part of the EC’s monitoring of the exercise.

The public display for the proposed delimitation review began on Sept 1.

Among those accompanying Ramlan were EC Sarawak director Abang Noraffian Abang Ibrahim and DBKU director Ramzi Abdillah.

Election Commission lead onsite Ramlan Harun redelineation exercise