First Past the Post, Malapportionment & the Sabah/Sarawak Dilemma

Malaysia is quite a polarised nation right now, especially across racial and religious lines. The results of the 2022 General Elections tell us as much. While we cannot and shouldn’t place the blame of the polarization on our electoral system alone, we have to ask if our electoral system does more to bring people together or encourage further polarization. And if we change the system, what would it look like? Separately but on a related note, many have argued that Sabah & Sarawak should have 1/3 Parliamentary Seats or more than that. But how would that actually work in reality?

We speak to Wong Chin Huat who’s a political scientist with Sunway University and is also part of an initiative to advocate for institutional reforms to advance political stability and accountability called Projek SAMA. He has been a champion of moving away from the First Past the Post Electoral System.

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