Violet Yong slams GPS' 99-seat plan as ‘distortion of constitutional facts'

Borneo Post

7 days ago

Yong says linking the increase of state seats to parliamentary seats was false, misleading and legally baseless. – Photo by Roystein Emmor
KUCHING (July 17): Pending assemblywoman Violet Yong strongly refuted claims by Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) and its component parties that the proposed increase in state assembly seats to 99 is a necessary step to increasing Sarawak's parliamentary representation.
Yong in a statement yesterday described the narrative as a 'blatant distortion of constitutional facts', and said it revealed the 'alarming ignorance of GPS leaders and their cyber-troopers'.
'Let me state clearly – under Article 46(1) of the Federal Constitution, parliamentary seats can be increased via constitutional amendment without increasing Sarawak's state seats. The two are entirely independent processes,' she said.
Yong cited several examples where previous increases in parliamentary seats were not affected by the changes in state seats.
'In 1974, parliamentary seats increased to 154 but Sarawak state seats remained unchanged at 48. In 1986, parliamentary seats increased to 177 and Sarawak still had 48 seats until 1987.
'In 1995, parliamentary seats increased to 192 and Sarawak remained at 56 state seats until 1996. In 2004, parliament increased seats to 219, and Sarawak had 62 seats until 2005.
'In 2005, Sarawak increased its state seats to 71 without any parliamentary seat increase,' she said, adding that these examples debunked GPS' claims.
She said linking the increase of state seats to parliamentary seats was false, misleading and legally baseless.
Yong alleged the increase was not about better representation but a politically-motivated gerrymandering exercise by GPS to tighten its grip on power, similar to what Sarawak Barisan Nasional (BN) did in the past.
She claimed the unfairness was clear, with rural seats like Gedong, Sadong Jaya, Pelagus and Kelaka – each with fewer than 10,000 voters – were carved out to protect GPS' strongholds, whereas urban constituencies such as Pending, Batu Lintang, Kota Sentosa and Pelawan had 30,000 to 40,000 voters each yet remained un-split and under-represented.
'One rural vote now carries the weight of three urban votes – a clear breach of the democratic principle of 'one person, one vote'. This is a deliberate strategy to silence urban voices, which tend to be politically informed, independent and critical of GPS rule.'
She urged the Election Commission to act impartially and resist political pressure, and proposed that any redelineation exercise must prioritise splitting overpopulated urban seats such as Pending, Padungan, Batu Lintang and Pelawan; reflect actual population growth and not GPS' political interests; and uphold fairness, transparency and constitutional integrity.
'Sarawakians deserve an electoral system based on genuine demographic realities, not one rigged to keep GPS in power. We will not remain silent as our democratic rights are undermined – we will continue to expose manipulation, misrepresentation and abuse of the redelineation process.' DUN seats gps lead violet yong