OPPOSITION lawmakers have denounced the re-delineation proposal tabled by Prime Minister Najib Razak today as “unconstitutional”.

PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar said the redrawing of electoral boundaries robbed the people of Malaysia of their right to vote for the government they want.

“Clearly the Barisan Nasional government working hand in glove with the EC to bulldoze an unconstitutional re-delineation process which takes away the people’s voting power,” she said.

Nurul Izzah, who is the Lembah Pantai MP, said the next elections wold be rigged via postal votes, on top of the re-delineation exercise.

“The sheer increase of more than a million postal votes renders the next GE an insidiously planned postal funfare by BN and the EC,” she said.

DAP’s Charles Santiago said the re-delineation exercise put Malaysia back to the colonial days when the British practised “divide and rule”.

“Basically the entire re-delineation exercise is conducted to favour BN. There is a very Chinese and very Malay divide. This is not very good.

“This goes back to ‘divide and rule’, back to the British colonial era. (The re-delineation makes sure that) Chinese and non-Malays do not influence the controversial seats,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

The Klang MP said it was now up to the Malays to decide which way the 14th general election would swing.

“There will be a Malay awakening and tsunami. Now the Malays will decide the future of the country.”

Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali, whose government is challenging the EC’s proposed exercise in court, said the redelineation did not only affect his state but all of Malaysia.

“It is not about Selangor alone. The proposal that was tabled goes against the fundamentals of the federal constitution.

“You deny (Malaysians) their rights to be represented in parliament and state assembly. That is unacceptable,” he told The Malaysian Insight  at Parliament today.

Azmin, who is PKR deputy president, also called slammed the EC for acting unconstitutionally by breaking up communal ties.

“They broke all the local ties (in the proposed re-delineation. There are Chinese areas and Malay areas. This is not acceptable.

Amanah’s Hanipa Maidin said the EC was violating Article 8 of the Federal Constitution, which states that “all persons are equal before the law and entitled to the equal protection of the law.”

“They didn’t obey the constitution regarding equal distribution of voters (in Article 8), which is a basic principle in democracy.”

Najib today tabled the motion to redraw electoral boundaries as proposed by the EC.

During his speech, Najib said criticisms that the proposal benefited only the ruling government were baseless. – March 28, 2018.