PUTRAJAYA will table in Parliament on March 28 the report that will propose the re-delineation of electoral areas, Dewan Rakyat speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia said today.

He said the document, which is currently available only to MPs, cannot be distributed or published until it is tabled by the government next week. 

“I would like to announce that the sixth report on the re-delineation proposal for electoral areas in the states 2018 (ST27 year 2018) and federal draft (Redelineation of electoral areas) (Negeri-Negeri Tanah Melayu 2018) (ST 28 year 2018) has been placed on your (MPs) desk.

“I would like to remind that all the documents cannot be released or published. It is embargoed until it is tabled on Wednesday March 28,” Pandikar said in the Dewan Rakyat today.

He also ruled  that MPs cannot bring the documents out from the Dewan Rakyat to avoid leaks to the media or the public.

“They (MPs) also know about the core issue well. This (re-delineation) has been fought in court, what more do you want to read?”

Mahfuz Omar (Pokok Sena-PAN) told Pandikar the documents should just be kept in the Speaker’s office if MPs were not allowed to study the documents outside of Parliament.

The session went on for 20 minutes before the Pandikar Amin instructed for the question-and-answer session to resume.

EC had submitted the final report on the re-delineation to Prime Minister Najib Razak on March 9.

Its chairman, Mohd Hashim Abdullah, said the re-delineation, as provided for under Article 113 (10) of the federal constitution, has been completed today

“With the submission of this final report, the duties and responsibilities of the EC in implementing the delineation exercise have been completed, as stipulated in the federal constitution.”

The proposed re-drawn electoral boundaries is expected to be passed by  Parliament as the ruling BN has a majority. 

Opposition MPs say the new boudaries might give BN the upper hand to reclaim Selangor.

Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming of DAP said the report might be based on the first re-delineation proposed by EC, affecting 18 constituencies, instead of just five.

“Based on the information that we received from those in the know, the second proposal will be withdrawn and replaced with the first proposal during the tabling, which would be done without following the federal constitution.  

“This will give the advantage to BN to wrest Selangor.”

Lim Kit Siang (Gelang Patah-DAP)  previously suggested the formation of a parliamentary select committee (PSC) to look through the re-delineation proposal. – March 22, 2018.