KUCHING, Sept 1 2026: Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) Youth chief Christopher Gira anak Sambang today appealed to Election Commission (EC) to create a new state seat, namely Bukit Arip State Constituency, through the reorganisation of the boundaries of N.71 Tamin and N.72 Kakus.
He said the creation of Bukit Arip State Constituency will make P.214 Selangau to have three more reasonable and balanced state seats.
“This measure is not intended to give political advantage to any party, but to ensure that the people in rural areas receive more effective representation, services and development attention,” he said in a statement.
Gira, who is also Tamin State Legislative Member (SLM), said he and PRS Youth members will fully examine the electoral draft demarcation plan and submit a representation to the EC within the specified period.
“I also call on the community and registered voters in Selangau to support the efforts to create the Bukit Arip SLA seat for the long-term interests of the people in Tamin, Kakus and the entire Selangau parliamentary constituency.
He said the principle of equality does not mean that each area must have the same number of voters, pointing out that true equality means that every citizen, including those living far inland, has fair access to elected representatives, government services and development opportunities.
He also questioned the rationale of the EC for not creating a new SLA seats under Selangau parliamentary constituency, adding that Selangau deserved to be allocated an additional SLA seats.
Expressing his disappointment, Gira said based on the EC’s proposal, Selangau, which has 49,266 voters, is still divided into N.71 Tamin with 25,311 voters and N.72 Kakus with 23,955 voters.
“This situation is clearly unbalanced when compared to several other parliamentary constituencies that have almost the same number of voters,” he said in a statement.
Gira cited as examples Batang Sadong parliamentary constituency has 53,378 voters and is allocated four SLA seats and Kapit parliamentary constituency has 50,572 voters and is allocated four SLA seats.
He added Sri Aman parliamentary constituency has 51,472 voters and is allocated three SLA seats, Batang Lupar parliamentary constituency has 46,072 voters and three SLA seats while Hulu Rajang parliamentary constituencuy has 40,063 voters and three SLA seats.
“The average for each SLA seat in the Selangau parliamentary constituency is 24,633 voters, compared to only 12,643 voters in Kapit, 13,345 in Batang Sadong, 13,354 in Hulu Rajang, 15,357 in Batang Lupar and 17,157 in Sri Aman.
“This means that one State Legislative Member (SLM) in Selangau has to represent almost twice the number of voters than one SLM Kapit.
“This comparison does not take into account the area of Selangau of about 9,193 square kilometers, the challenging terrain and hundreds of longhouses and scattered rural settlements,” Gira said.
He said Tamin SLA, which he represents, alone has about 400 longhouses, while the Kakus SLA has about 350 longhouses.
He stressed that the distance between settlements, lack of roads and basic amenities, and the need for rural development place a huge service burden on elected representatives.
He said the demarcation of constituencies should not be determined based solely on the number of voters, saying that factors such as geographical size, travel distance, difficulty of communication, number of settlements and the ability of elected representatives to provide services effectively must also be given due consideration.
Starting today, the EC held a month-long display of the draft electoral boundaries and names of the 17 new SLA seats for public feedback and recommendations.
With the additional seats, Sarawak will have 99 state seats in SLA.
The new constituencies are N.02 Jagoi, N.06 Pasir Pandak, N.09 Matang, N. 10 Semarak, N.16 Tabuan Jaya, N. 19 Maong, N. 23 Samarindah, N. 26 Sungai Serin, N. 53 Igan, N.61 Tanah Mas, N. 64 Sungai Merah, N. 66 Bukit Kemuyang, N.75 Melekun, N. 84 Batu Niah, N. 89 Permaisuri, N. 90 Tudan and N. 93 Usun Apau.
The EC also proposes amendments to the names of one federal constituency and 10 state constituencies.
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