More seats in Sabah can support balanced growth, says analyst

Arvin Tajari says raising the number of state and parliamentary seats is worth considering, given Sabah’s vast land area and population exceeding three million.

Arvin Tajari said raising the number of state seats to 94 and parliamentary seats to 36 is worth considering, given Sabah’s vast land area and population exceeding three million, which is still represented by a relatively limited number of elected representatives.

Arvin, from Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), noted that the imbalance in population size between urban and rural constituencies has widened the development gap, undermining the ability of representatives to effectively convey the needs and voices of their constituents.

He cited extreme contrasts between very small urban constituencies such as Api-Api (4 sq km), Kukusan (8 sq km), and Tanjung Batu (11 sq km), compared with rural areas spanning over 10,000 sq km, like Kuamut, Nabawan, and Sukau.

“The voices of rural residents are often sidelined because the logistical and administrative capacity of their assembly members is severely limited, compared with their counterparts in small, densely populated urban constituencies.

“Realistically, Kuamut, which spans over 10,000 sq km, could be divided into three constituencies. This would make it easier to channel residents’ concerns and distribute development more equitably.

“This would help address the problem of uneven development,” he told FMT.

He was commenting on a proposal by Balung assemblyman Syed Ahmad Syed Abas to increase Sabah’s state and parliamentary seats, similar to neighbouring Sarawak, which passed a bill to push for the change last July.

The Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) representative suggested raising the number of state seats from the current 73 to 94 and parliamentary seats from 25 to 36.

According to records, Sabah’s state seats were increased to 73 following the 2020 state election, up from 60 previously, with new constituencies including Lamag, Pintasan, and Tulid. However, the number of parliamentary seats has remained at 25.

Meanwhile, Syahruddin Awang Ahmad, a Borneo Geopolitics & Electoral Studies researcher, said that increasing seats must be accompanied by serious institutional reforms.

He explained that Sabah’s main challenges are not the number of representatives but weaknesses in policy implementation, resource mismanagement, extreme poverty, and inadequate basic infrastructure development.

“These issues need to be addressed to ensure that increasing the number of seats is genuinely effective,” the Universiti Malaysia Sabah academic said.

Syahruddin also predicted that implementing additional seats and redelineation would drastically alter the state’s political dynamics, potentially giving GRS a strategic advantage, especially in rural constituencies expected to be subdivided.

“This move could weaken the influence of national parties because smaller constituencies typically strengthen regional sentiment and a sense of local identity.

“Competition among GRS, Warisan, and other opposition parties will also become more complex, as redelineation processes usually favour incumbents with access to government resources,” he said.