SARAWAK ASSEMBLY The Sarawak State Assembly was warned today that the passing of the Dewan Undangan Negeri (Composition of Membership) Bill 2014 to raise the number of assembly seats may be invalid as it violates the Federal Constitution.

“If we just pass this Bill without any due consideration of the principles relating to delineation, this august House is put to a great risk of amending the State Constitution in violation of Federal Constitution,” the DAP assemblyperson for Padungan Wong King Wei warned.

“This is something very serious and may render this Bill, if passed, declared invalid by the court of law,” said Wong when debating the Bill today.

The Bill, tabled by Sarawak Minister of Housing and Tourism Abang Johari Openg ( right ), seeks to increase the number of the state assemblypersons from 71 to 82.

Wong said: “The Bill proposes an amendment to alter the composition of membership of this august House from 71 to 82, an increment of 11 seats. This amounts to a redelineation exercise.”

He pointed out that a constituency redelineation exercise cannot be done simply, for there must be strict adherence to the Federal Constitution.

He said Article 117 of the constitution requires the delineation of state constituencies to be made in accordance with the provisions contained in the 13th Schedule, which outlines the principles relating to delineation.

“As a member of this august House, we must not simply allow any redelineation without observing the 13th Schedule of the Federal Constitution, which, among other things, requires the numbers of electors within each constituency to be equal, unless the area is too big and causes difficulties in reaching the electors.

   

The redelineation must also be done with due care and with justifiable reasons, pursuant to Federal Constitution.

Wong ( right ), who is a lawyer by profession, said the proposed Bill also failed to state where the additional seats will be, or why redelineation is to be done.

“Therefore, I am reserving my support to this Bill, until and unless the 11 new seats and the reasons for delineation are disclosed to this august House. As responsible legislators, we cannot blindly allow legislation to be passed without knowing what it is about,” he added.