By Shikin Louis
KUCHING, July 7: Padungan assemblyman Chong Chieng Jen has questioned the push to increase Sarawak’s Legislative Assembly (DUS) seats from 82 to 99, suggesting that the government should first scrap the Premier’s 32 political secretaries if existing assembly members are deemed inadequate.
“If you want to increase the number of ADUNs, then these political secretaries of the Premier—one for each parliamentary seat—should be done away with. They’re unnecessary,” he told a press conference in objecting to the proposed Dewan Undangan Negeri (Composition of Membership) Bill 2025 at the Sarawak Legislative Assembly (DUN) today.
Chong argued that political secretaries receive government salaries, enjoy official perks, and are appointed specifically to assist with constituency matters.
“They receive their salary and they receive pensions as well. They even have a driver and a car assigned to them.
“To me, having one or two political secretaries is already enough,” he added.
Earlier during his debate in the DUS sitting, Chong also pointed out that Sarawak already has a favourable ratio compared to other Commonwealth countries.
“With 82 elected repesentatives, each one serves around 34,000 people and 1,500 square kilometers (sqkm).
“In Australia, South Africa and Canada, each representative covers far more people and much larger territories,” he said, citing data from regions like Ontario, Western Australia and South Africa’s Free State Province.
Chong, who is Sarawak Democratic Action Party (DAP) chairman, maintained that the true priority for Sarawak should be increased representation in Parliament, not an enlarged State Assembly.
“At the end of my speech, I stated our position clearly—what the people of Sarawak want is greater representation in Parliament, not more ADUNs.
“I call on this government to move a motion in Parliament through their Deputy Prime Minister (Dato Sri Fadillah Yusof) or any of their ministers, to increase Sarawak’s parliamentary seats. I fully pledge my support for that, along with all five Sarawakian DAP members of Parliament (MPs),” he emphasised. – DayakDaily
