THERE will be no cheating in the next general election, Prime Minister Najib Razak proudly said two days ago.

He sounds like a stand-up comedian.

Cheating has already taken place, even before the election is called, through the redrawing of electoral boundaries by the Election Commission.

The EC has to complete the redelineation exercise by September.

But, the speed with which it is working seems to allude that it is following Najib’s election calendar.

Many Malaysians have voiced their dissatisfaction with the proposed redrawing of electoral boundaries by filing objections and taking up cases in court, because the EC is compromised.

It is placed under the Prime Minister’s Department, and will not be able to do its work freely and independently.

In the constituency I represent, the EC has turned Klang into a Chinese-majority seat, when it was originally a multiracial one.

Other constituencies, especially in Selangor, have been dismantled and put back in different shapes and sizes, with at least six super-constituencies comprising more than 130,000 voters each.

So, while Najib thumps his chest about a clean election, major fraud has already happened.

If the prime minister wants to make the next polls the cleanest one ever, he should not table the new electoral boundaries when Parliament convenes next month.

He should, instead, allow the next government to decide how best to redelineate all parliamentary constituencies in Malaysia with an independent EC. – February 2, 2018.

* Charles Santiago is DAP’s Klang MP

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.