The recent announcement by the Election Commission of the increase of 25 parliament seats to 219 has received brickbats from not just the opposition political parties, but also some members of the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition. Its rationale for the creation of new seats lacks clarity and thus opens itself to public criticism.

According to the Department of Statistics' Population and Housing Census of Malaysia 2000, the population of Malaysia was 22,202,614. If the population were to be proportionately distributed among the 219 constituencies, each MP would service 101,362 people (see PR1 of the chart).

At the same time, there were 9,992,134 registered voters at the end of 2001. If the seats are proportionately divided, each MP will represent 45,626 voters. (See PR2 of the chart)

The Election Commission has also disclosed that there were 2.1 million eligible voters who have not registered themselves, namely Selangor (980,000), Johor (242,000), Sarawak (224,000), Sabah (221,000), Kuala Lumpur (160,000), and Penang (136,00). If they were registered, there would be about 12,092,134 voters. Proportionately, each MP would service 55,215 voters.

Presuming that they would register themselves, Selangor would have 2,348,693 voters, Johor 1,465,532, Sarawak 1,120,292, Sabah 967,948, Kuala Lumpur 824,233, and Penang 795,155. It would be a great injustice to overburden MPs where these unregistered voters were located.

As the Election Commission was prudent in allocating a seat for Putrajaya in view of the impending movement of more people there, it should also take into consideration of the number of eligible voters in the states above and allocate more seats to them.

Proportional representation

It is important for the Election Commission to take a global, or even a national view, based on proportional representation for the House of Representatives in keeping with the Senate, which is equally represented by the states.

Like the United States, the Malaysian parliament is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and House of Representatives. The US Congress (Parliament) consists of a Senate represented by 100 senators (two elected senators from each state, irrespective of its size and population) and a House of Representatives of 435 elected members (based on proportional representation of the population. California has the most number of House members. There are seven states with only one House member. Electoral boundaries are redelineated every 10 years. They affect the House seats but not the Senate).

The Election Commission should consider allocation of seats proportionally to the population or number of voters among the states. Otherwise, it would be unfair, if not a distortion of the representation for each state. It is grossly unfair for Selangor the state with the largest population as well as the largest number of voters not to be given the largest number of parliamentary seats.

The chart see PR1, PR2, and PR3 presents three options for the Election Commission to consider. Proportional representation for the parliamentary seats among the states is fair and democratic. It would be both undemocratic and unfair if states with smaller population or smaller number of voters were allowed to send more MPs to the Dewan Rakyat than states with larger population or larger number of voters.

According to the proposed delineation, Selangor was under-represented between eight and 21 seats and Kuala Lumpur (between two and four seats). Sabah was over-represented by one to nine seats and Sarawak by eight seats. The other states were quite fairly represented or in any case at a tolerable limit.

Apart from the distortion of representation among the states, there were also glaring discrepancies in the size of the seats or number of voters among the parliamentary seats within each state. For the sake of transparency, it is important for the Election Commission to explain the criteria used in determining the size of each constituency. The number of voters varies so widely between some constituencies in each state.

Johor, Perak, Selangor

For example, Johor Baru has 90,187 voters 14 parliamentary seats in Johor have less than half of its number of voters and one (Tanjung Piai 45,892 voters) barely half of its voters. It has more voters than the total voters of three constituencies (Kota Tinggi, Kahang and Sikijang) which have less than 30,000 voters, eight seats (Labis, Pagoh, Muar, Ayer Itam, Simpang Renggam, Mersing, Tenggara, Tanjung Surat) have less than 40,000 voters, three (Segamat, Parit Sulong, and Pontian) have less than 45,000 voters.

There are 1,223,532 voters in Johor. If divided proportionately, each constituency will have 47,058 voters. Both Johor Bahru and Pulai (71,749 voters) deserve to be split into 4 seats to ensure their MPs would not be over-burden. If the voters' dependents and unregistered voters are taken into consideration, probably the MP of JB would end up representing 180,000 people and Pulai would have to service 140,000. In addition, the population and number of voters would continue to grow in the next 10 years before the next redelineation of the electoral boundaries.

Such glaring discrepancies appeared also in other states. In Perak, with 1,138,010 voters or 47,417 voters for each parliamentary seat if proportionately delineated, there are two seats (Kinta and Batu Gajah) with more than 70,000 voters, five seats (Lumut, Gopeng, Taiping, Ipoh, and Tambun) with more than 60,000 voters and one seat (Kampar) with 59,636 voters.

On the other extreme, there are two seats (Gerik and Lenggong) with less than 24,000 voters, three seats (Chenderoh, Kuala Kangsar, and Parit) with less than 28,000 voters. There are three seats (Larut, Tapah, and Bagan Datok) with less than 38,000 voters.

Gerik and Lenggong should have been merged into one seat and both Kinta and Batu Gajah deserved to be split into four seats. Gopeng and Kampar deserved to be split into three seats. Ipoh and Tambun should also be split into three seats.

In Selangor, with 1,368,693 voters or 62,213 voters for each of its 22 parliamentary seats, there are three seats (Gombak, Kapar and Klang) with more than 84,000 voters and four seats (Subang, PJ Utara, Serdang and Ulu Langat) with more than 71,000 voters.

On the other hand, there are two seats (Sabak Bernam and Sekinchan) with less than 31,000 voters, Tanjong Karang with 34,608 voters and Kuala Selangor with 42,892 voters.

Gombak, Kapar and Klang deserved to be split into six seats, and Subang/PJ Utara/Serdang/Ulu Langat to be split into seven seats while Sabak Bernam, Sekinchan, and Tanjong Karang should have remained as two seats (the creation of Sekinchan was without much merit).

Represent people, not land

Sabah has 746,948 registered voters and has been given 25 parliamentary seats. Proportionately distributed, each seat should have 29,877 voters. This is very much below the average number of voters in Peninsular Malaysia.

Three seats (Pensiagan, Belaran and Kinabatangan) have less than 20,000 voters and while Tenom has 20,002 voters and Kimanis 21,077 voters. Kota Kinabalu has 43,846 voters, Tawau 40,755, Lahat Datu 38,663, and Kudat 35,808 voters.

It would be a mockery if most urban state seats in Peninsular Malaysia have more voters than the average parliamentary seats in Sabah and Sarawak. Though the constituencies in Sabah and Sarawak may cover a wider area, that was not a good reason to have an MP because he or she should represent people and not the land, plants and animals.

Though Selangor has nearly twice the population of Sarawak, the latter has 28 seats, six more than Selangor. This is not fair to the people of Selangor who deserve to have 38 MPs based on proportional representation but were given 22 only.

The existing practice of giving excessive weight to rural voters is unfair to the principle of one-man one-vote. A fair handicap or weightage in favour of the rural seat is between 10 percent and 5 percent.

KC HO holds a BA, MA (Hons) in politics and LLB (Hons). He was a journalist and secretary-general of the National Union of Journalists. He was also a US Congressional Fellow. Feedback can be directed to kc_ho@mail.com