By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, March 21: Senator Robert Lau in the Dewan Rakyat today has raised the issue of increasing gaps between constituencies in terms of the number of voters in light of a projected re-delineation exercise in the next three to four years.
He cited that paragraph (c) of Section 2 under the Thirteenth Schedule of the Federal Constitution states that the number of voters within each constituency in a state ought to be approximately equal except that, having regard to the greater difficulty of reaching voters in the interior areas and the other disadvantages facing rural constituencies, a measure of weightage for area ought to be given to such constituencies.
However, he stressed that every re-delineation exercise creates larger gaps between constituencies. He also said the growing imbalance still happens even though the development gap between urban and rural areas have decreased.
“Every corner of Peninsular Malaysia can be accessed by road. Now, 4G internet access has reached all corners of Peninsular Malaysia as well. Water supply, electricity, schools and clinics are within a short distance by road.
“What is the justification for an area like P125 Putrajaya to have only 42,881 voters? This area is 2.5 times bigger than Bandar Sibu (P212), in fact, I am convinced that Sibu is in a situation 2.5 times less developed than Putrajaya by any standards.
“P106 Damansara has the largest number of voters, which is almost 240,000. In fact, they are within a few minutes driving distance of each other. What is the explanation for this huge gap? How do we justify this in the words of the constitution?” he questioned during the King’s decree debate.
At the same time, Lau expressed his views that the number of honourable members of the Dewan Raykat and State Legislative Assembly (DUN) should be limited.
“The number of members should not increase every 10 years. This is a burden on taxpayers because the number of elected representatives does not reflect the quality of our leaders.
“More manpower, talent and resources are needed in other parts of the government, as they play an equal, even more important role such as the health and education system or the judiciary,” he added.
Touching on the importance of education and skilled workforce in driving the development agenda, he noted that Malaysia has 20 public universities, 36 polytechnics, 105 community colleges and 415 private higher learning institutions.
However, he questioned the unbalanced access to such institutions by asking the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) on how many from the total number of institutions are located in Borneo regions. — DayakDaily
