Tie constituencies in Malaysia to total number of voters, not total trees
It’s criminal — or at least reprehensible — to contemplate passing Borneo at least a third of the parliamentary seats when a redistribution concurrently with a seat increase occurs.
Praba Ganesan, MMO
Today, Sarawak, Sabah and Labuan hold 57 of the 222 seats, or 26 per cent of Dewan Rakyat. Politicians from the East say their preferred ratio of over 1/3 or 33 per cent was a Malaysian formation guarantee, and necessary to prevent constitutional amendments disadvantageous to Borneo.
However, electoral overcompensation is also problematic.
This is an assiduously pro-Borneo column, so much so, some feel I own a home in Kuching or Kota Kinabalu.
Arguments to improve Borneo’s fortunes and powers have justifiably been made, no less here in this column. That there is a debt of honour is not debatable. Malaysia has built the capital region and its people using Borneo’s resources.
However, all the wrongs done to Borneo need not require wrongs to be reciprocated to Semenanjung residents.
Two wrongs don’t make a right.
Peninsular Malaysia has 27.8 million people compared to Borneo’s 6.3 million people, which is a ratio of 6 to 1. To alter the MP ratio to 2 to 1, effectively dilutes Semenanjung voters’ potency three times over.
It dramatically reduces the West’s democratic worth. The present ratio of 3 to 1 is unfair as it is. To worsen it is unconscionable.
