KUCHING: Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) has called for re-delineation exercise of electoral boundaries in the state.
Its party president Datuk Joseph Salang Gandum said the aim of the re-delineation is not to secure additional seats for PRS but to improve the delivery of services to Sarawak’s rural populations.
“We are not asking for all those new seats to be created, to be given to PRS. But the new seats represent the rural community.
“This is so as to enable the projects or services to be delivered to the rural community with greater ease,” he said.
He said in his address at the party’s 20th anniversary dinner held at a hotel here last night (Oct 27).
Salang said PRS has been addressing the concerns of rural voters, who face limited access to essential services due to the vast size of rural constituencies, which makes it difficult for elected representatives to effectively serve their communities.
“Because of that, the party is working closely with other Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) component parties to ensure that people in the rural areas will be fully represented by their representatives.
“And the representatives of the people can deliver and bring the services to them, provided if the area (constituencies) is slightly smaller and more manageable,” he said.
He added that the current large constituencies limit the allocation of resources, impacting the development of rural areas.
On another note, he said, PRS will defend all the seats that are traditionally contested come the election.
“Don’t look at our weaknesses, because our weaknesses can also be helped by the others if all the other component parties are as cooperative as PRS to help the others to win all the seats that they contest,” said Salang.
Meanwhile, PRS secretary-general Datuk Dr Malcolm Mussen Lamoh said that in all fairness, PRS should get a fair number of new constituency or parliamentary seats in the next re-delineation exercise by the Election Commission (EC).
“Hopefully, we can get a better deal since over the year, we have been dwindling and under-represented compared with other races in Sarawak,” he said.
Among those present were PRS Women chief Datuk Seri Doris Sophia Brodie and Youth chief Datuk Snowdan Lawan.
