Kuching: While landmass is a valid factor in delineating constituencies, the current argument put forth by the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS)-led government to support the increase of 17 state assemblyperson (ADUNs) in Sarawak is over-amplifying the landmass factor and ignore the voter factor, said DAP Sarawak Chairman Chong Chieng Jen.
Thus, he said it renders the ‘Wakil Rakyat’ more like ‘Wakil Tanah’.
“The ADUNs are called ‘Wakil Rakyat’, not ‘Wakil Tanah’. We serve the people on the land, not the land.
“When many rural constituencies have less than 15,000 voters each, most of the urban constituencies have more than 35,000 voters each,” he stressed in a statement.
He pointed out that while the GPS compares the landmass of Sarawak to West Malaysia states, they have ignored the population size of West Malaysia states.
“They have also forgotten that they are supposed to serve the people, not the land and the trees. For instance, Selangor, with a population of 7 million and a landmass of 7,956 sq km, has only 56 ADUNs, meaning each ADUN serves an average of 125,000 residents.
“Compared to Sarawak’s population of 2.8 million, with 82 ADUNs, i.e., one ADUN serving 34,000 residents. With the increase of the number of ADUNs to 99, the ratio is now further reduced to 1 ADUN to 28,000 residents,” he said.
He emphasised that even within Sarawak, terrible gerrymandering exists, with urban constituencies being marginalised and voters’ representation in these constituencies being minimised.
“As of June 2025, there are in total 19 urban seats (23%), eight semi-urban (10%) seats, and 55 (67%) rural seats. Out of the 55 rural seats, 20 of them have less than 15,000 voters each. The five rural constituencies with the least number of voters are Gedong (10,380), Sadong Jaya (10,768), Pelagus (12,026), Kalaka (12,343), and Simunjan (12,563).
“As for the urban seats, 17 out of the 19 urban seats have more than 30,000 voters each. The five urban constituencies with the most number of voters are Senadin (73,430), Dudong (55,298), Tupong (54,801), Pelawan (51,853), and Kota Sentosa (47,544),” he explained.
He said that the contrast is most shocking, and the largest constituency has seven times more voters than the smallest constituency.
Chong said, with even the urban-based party like Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) within GPS also adopting the “Wakil Tanah” argument to justify the increase of the DUN members, it is no wonder that the urban representation in the Sarawak DUN is further diluted and marginalised.
“With the increase of the DUN constituencies to 99, with a total number of voters of approximately 2.02 million, the average voters per DUN is approximately 20,400.
“Given the discrepancy in landmass, there should at most be a plus or minus 15% of that number of voters per DUN constituency, ie, per DUN constituency with a minimum number of 17,340 or a maximum of 23,460 voters,” he added.
Chong called on the Sarawak Government to make a representation and recommendation to the Election Commission to implement this notion of “minimum 17,340 voters and maximum 23,460 voters per constituency”.
“Only then can we restore the meaning of Wakil Rakyat in Sarawak – true representation of the people,” he concluded.
