An ppposition state assemblyperson said it was the “grossly unfair gerrymandering” that helped the Barisan Nasional winning the recent state elections.

“The pertinent facts, which are clear and emerging after the state election on April 16, are that the opposition has gained 45 percent of the total votes cast and yet there are only 15 of us here.

NONE “But the BN with 55 percent of the votes have 55 seats in this state legislative assembly,” Ting Tze Fui (DAP-Meradong) ( left ) said during the debate on the Yang di-Pertua Negeri Abang Muhamad Salahuddin Abang Barieng’s address.

“Why? Pure and simple, it is the grossly unfair gerrymandering found in our electoral system that has been blatantly manipulated and perpetrated by this BN government to entrench its stronghold of political power.

“The concept of one-vote-one-value and proportional representation have long been thrown out of the window,” Ting said.

She said under the present “gerrymandered” electoral system, seven out of the 71 seats have more than 25,000 registered voters while 26 seats have less than 10,000 voters each.

She asked how is that the seat of Pending is having 29,488 voters while the neighbouring seat of Satok has only 10,431 voters?

“How do you justify the Pelawan seat has 28,808 voters while the neighbouring seat of Nangka merely has 14,197 voters?

“The state seats of Daro has only 7,305 voters and Layar has 8,109 voters,” she pointed out.

She said Sarawak cannot allow these grossly-gerrymandered and distorted electoral boundaries to persist.

‘Need to introduce vital reforms’

“We need to urgently introduce vital reforms to the current state’s unfair, unrepresentative and undemocratic electoral system to reflect the true essence of democracy, that is, one-vote-one-value.

“We genuinely require a fairer and truly representative electoral system that is not biased against any particular ethnic group or geographical location,” Ting added.

She said if Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud is truly sincere in upholding real democratic principles and ideals, he should without hesitation strongly endorse calls for genuine electoral reforms.

“His claim of being the chief minister for all Sarawakians would run smack in the face of democracy and his so-called vision of all-inclusive politics to look after the interests of all races in Sarawak would only sound like a smokescreen, if he is against bona fide reforms,” she added.

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