‘Chong oversimplifying things’
Re- delineating state or parliamentary constituencies is necessary for many reasons, but to please political parties is not one of them.
Taking Kota Sentosa as an example, Simunjan assemblyman Datuk Mohd Naroden Majais said that seat was established after the last re-delineation exercise in 2001, and the biggest benefactor turned out to be the opposition.
“It is DAP that had taken up this new constituency with a good majority,” said Naroden in a statement yesterday.
He was responding to Kota Sentosa assemblyman Chong Chieng Jen’s recent objection to the re-delineation exercise.
Chong, also state DAP chief and Bandar Kuching MP, speculated that the exercise was to accommodate the nine assemblymen who recently left SUPP and SPDP to form their own parties.
“To speculate that all the new seats are designed for the nine BN YBs who have been sacked by their respective parties is to simplify the whole state political situation. It should not be a statement from a politician like Chong, who has been in politics for more than a decade.
“Nine seats is only the number of seats speculated by the state Election Commission ( EC) for the time being. It may be less or more than nine seats. The decision lies with the EC, which is an independent body, and no reference is needed to be made to the ruling or opposition parties although the
To speculate that all the new seats are designed for the nine BN YBs who have been sacked by their respective parties is to simplify the whole state political situation. It should not be a statement from a politician like Chong, who has been in politics for more than a decade. Datuk Mohd Naroden Majais, Simunjan assemblyman
proposal must be approved by the state assembly.
“The re- delineation exercise is not carried out to benefit any political party, but the voters,” said Naroden, also assistant minister in Chief Minister’s office (Entrepreneur Development).
He said the main reason to redelineate every eight to 10 years was to enable the people to be better served.
“Within the long span of eight to 10 years, surely the population will increase. Furthermore, after a decade, the voters have also become more affluent and sophisticated. They will have higher expectations and become more demanding.
“There will be a great need to resize constituencies so that more effective and quality services can be delivered to the voters. Re- delineation is also required to allow better planning of resources for more effective administration of the constituency, as a whole,” he explained.
Naroden added that the size of some state constituencies was big. For example, the size of Simunjan is more than 10 times that of Kota Sentosa, and Belaga is 20 times bigger than Kota Sentosa.
“Of course the size of voters in the rural area is smaller. But Chong can still cover his constituency within a day, whereas I have to spend at least three days to cover my area.
“For Belaga assemblyman Liwan Lagang, I believe even a week is not enough for him to visit the longhouses in his constituency.”