PERHAPS the Election Commission wants to help Pakatan Harapan win the 14th general election.

With its double-standards, the body tasked to exercise fairness and impartiality in conducting elections may be driving more Malaysians towards the opposition with its arbitrary and eleventh-hour rules, imposed just before the start of the campaign period.

The EC has ruled ahead of nomination day last Saturday that it would only allow campaign material bearing the face of a seat’s candidate and the president and deputy president of the candidate’s party.

Since the opposition is using the party logo of PKR in GE14, this move effectively prevents pictures of PH prime minister candidate Dr Mahathir Mohamad or of Anwar Ibrahim’s iconic image.

Keeping to its word, the EC has already been cutting out their faces from banners and billboards, such as happened in Ayer Hitam, Johor, and in Penang.

Yet, the EC is silent on a billboard in Yong Peng, in the federal seat of Ayer Hitam, featuring MCA president Liow Tiong Lai with China’s President Xi Jinping, who is not even a candidate or a citizen of Malaysia.

There is another billboard that depicts Ali Baba mogul Jack Ma with Barisan Nasional chief and caretaker prime minister Najib Razak.

Since when did foreigners enjoy more rights than two national leaders who had served the country with distinction?

Already the EC is under fire for gerrymandering and malapportionment in the exercise to re-delineate electoral boundaries that will be used in this election.

With its double standards, can the public be blamed for thinking that the EC is partisan and interested only in looking after BN’s interest?

Unless of course, maybe even the EC wants change and knows that there is no other way than to install a new government. – May 1, 2018.