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Criticised for inaction, Sarawak PAS to meet on state boundary redrawing

Stop Sarawak delineation inquiry pending judicial review, Bersih tells EC

Amid criticism that Sarawak PAS is not doing enough to challenge the Election Commission's (EC) proposed redrawing of state constituency boundaries, the state chapter of the Islamist party will meet this Saturday to study the redelineation proposal and decide on its next course of action.

With only a week left for objections to be filed against the EC's proposed new boundaries, PAS's meeting this weekend follows disappointment expressed by civil society group Rise of Sarawak Efforts (ROSE) which blamed the party for its chilly attitude towards other state non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in protesting the exercise, which critics say has been riddled with gerrymandering.

"PAS said they are not mobilising voters from their affected constituency to submit an objection," ROSE spokesperson Anne CJ Teo told The Malaysian Insider.

However, Sarawak PAS secretary Abang Ahmad Kerdi Abang Masagus said the party's central leadership had appointed its deputy commissioner Jofri Jaraiee to study the EC's proposal and to come up with a report first.

"We will discuss this in the meeting. We will listen to the report this Saturday and a decision will be make pending the report," he told The Malaysian Insider.

The EC on January 5 began putting on public display its proposed redelineation of state constituencies in Sarawak, creating 11 new seats in the state legislative assembly from the previous 71.

The 11 proposed seats are Batu Kitang (designated as N13), Stakan (N17), Serembu (N18), Triboh (N23), Gedong (N26), Kabong (N40), Telian (N57), Selirik (N63), Murum (N66 ), Samalaju (N70), and Long Lama (N78).

Of the 11 seats, only one, Stakan, located in the parliamentary constituency of Batang Sadong, falls under PAS.

Voters have only 30 days, until February 4, to raise their objections to the proposed delineation.

Under Schedule 13 of the Federal Constitution, affected public can object to the proposed boundaries if there is a representation of more than 100 voters from the same constituency.

Besides the public, state governments and local authorities are also allowed to register their objections. The EC is required to organise a local inquiry upon receiving the objections as stipulated under the constitution.

As of yesterday, the state EC had received 10 petitions from voters objecting to the redelineation exercise, its director Datu Takun Sunggah was quoted as saying by The Borneo Post.

“The nature of the complaints is more or less about which parliamentary constituency a new state constituency should be under,” he was quoted as saying by the East Malaysian newspaper.

There were recent claims that the main PAS body had directed its Sarawak chapter not to protest the redelineation exercise after its president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang paid Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem a courtesy call on January 13.

Sarawak PAS commissioner Adam Ahid denied such allegations and said the party had been collecting signatures from voters in Stakan as part of the objections to be submitted to the EC.

He said the party would not be collaborating with NGOs against the redelineation and would instead submit its own objections to the polls body if there was a need to do so.

Explaining Hadi's visit, Abang Ahmad also said it was part of Sarawak PAS's appointment to meet Adenan following his appointment as chief minister in February last year.

"He has met with all political parties in the state and when the president came, the meeting went ahead," said Abang Ahmad. – January 29, 2015.