EC chief: New seats now can be contested

KUCHING: The 11 new state seats in Sarawak were gazetted on Dec 18, confirmed Election Commission chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof yesterday.

With this, he said the Batu Kitang, Stakan, Serembu, Bukit Semuja, Gedong, Kabong, Tellian, Bukit Goram, Murum, Samalaju and Mulu seats were ready to be contested and the number of state seats in Sarawak was now 82.

Abdul Aziz also disclosed that recommendations have been made to change the name of Mambong parliamentary constituency to Puncak Borneo and names of four state constituencies have been changed – Bengoh to Mambong, Batang Air to Batang Ai, Belawai to Kuala Rajang and Kidurong to Tanjong Batu.

Out of the 11 new seats, Batu Kitang is a Chinese majority constituency; Stakan, Bukit Goram and Samalaju are Iban majority areas; Serembu and Bukit Semuja are predominantly Bidayuh; Murum and Mulu are Orang Ulu areas while Gedong, Kabong and Telian are Malay-Melanau majority constituencies.

This means that the Iban majority seats would be increased from 29 to 33; Malay/Melanau majority seats from 27 to 30; Bidayuh majority seats from six to eight; Orang Ulu majority seats from four to six and Chinese majority seats increased to 16 from 15.

EC proposed the re-delineation following the passing of the State Assembly (Composition of Membership) Bill 2014 during the November 2014 sitting of the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly to increase the seats from 71 to 82.

Feedback from the public was gathered through two public notices and 51 of the objections received were investigated by EC through local inquiry.

However, it took more than a year for the new seats to be gazetted due to a claim by Batu Lintang assemblyman See Chee How and an Ulu Baram voter Pauls Baya that insufficient information was given to the voters.

See and Baya filed a case against EC to nullify EC’s recommendations. On May 14, the High Court in Kuching ruled in favour of See.

EC brought the case up to the Court of Appeal which overturned the decision of the High Court on Aug 6.

See and Baya then appealed to the Federal Court, which on Oct 15 ruled in favour of EC and refused to grant a stay for the judgment, allowing EC to complete the whole process of re-delineation.

The revised delineation proposal affected more than 20 state constituencies under the 15 parliamentary constituencies of Bandar Kuching, Stampin, Kota Samarahan, Puncak Borneo, Batang Sadong, Saratok, Tg Manis, Sibu, Mukah, Kapit, Ulu Rajang, Bintulu, Sibu, Miri and Baram.-Borneo Post