Kuching: DAPSY Sarawak Political Education Director Soo Tien Ren has challenged SUPP and its Youth Deputy Chief Kelvin Hii to prove their claim that the Sarawak government treats all communities fairly and equally.
Soo said that if Hii truly believes in the fairness of the state government, he should take concrete action by urging the Deputy Premier to push for greater Chinese representation in the state cabinet, and by calling on the Premier and the Election Commission (EC) to ensure fair treatment for urban and Chinese-majority areas in the upcoming state constituency redelineation exercise.
“I also challenge SUPP to publicly urge the Premier to allocate at least seven of the 17 newly created state constituencies to Chinese-majority areas, to maintain a fair level of Chinese representation in the Sarawak Legislative Assembly,” he said in a statement.
He said this in response to Hii’s recent claim that the Sarawak government has “taken care all communities” in its electoral boundary delineation.
Soo explain that Hii has turned a blind eye to the blatant unfairness in the redelineation process under the GPS-led government – a textbook case of double standards.
Soo pointed out that Chinese currently make up about 23.3% of Sarawak’s population, yet there are only 16 Chinese assemblymen in the Sarawak Legislative Assembly, accounting for just 19.5%.
“Even among these 16 constituencies, the imbalance is glaring – for example, in Deputy Premier Dr Sim Kui Hian’s Batu Kawah constituency, there were over 20,000 voters under the old electoral roll, of which roughly 12,000 were Chinese.
“Nearby Batu Kitang, represented by former Padawan Municipal Council chairman Lo Khere Chiang, has at least 10,000 Chinese voters. By comparison, Tanjong Datu constituency has only about 10,000 voters in total – merely half that of Batu Kawah,” he said.
According to Soo, under the new electoral roll, the number of voters in Batu Kawah and Batu Kitang has surged to around 40,000 each, further widening the gap.
“Based on population ratio and fair representation, the number of Chinese-majority constituencies should have increased to around 19, at least three more than the current 16.
“However, the Sarawak government has failed to plan accordingly, resulting in a continued decline in Chinese political representation,” he said.
Soo, who is also the DAPSY Stampin chief, stressed that without political representation, there is no political power – and without political power, there is no voice in policymaking.
“SUPP Youth should stop dodging the issue and start fighting for real political representation. That is the very least responsibility they owe to the Chinese community in Sarawak,” he said.
