THE Election Commission’s proposal to re-draw electoral boundaries nationwide and divide voters by ethnicity will pose a dim future for multiracial Malaysia, said a graft watchdog. 

Voters as well as Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali had told the EC to avoid creating “single-race constituencies” during its second and final round of public hearings earlier this year on the proposed re-delineation exercise for parliamentary and state constituencies in the state. 

Azmin had told a local inquiry by the EC on March 1 that the new boundaries were unconstitutional under Section 2 of Schedule 13 of the federal constitution, which requires the EC to have regard for local community ties in its re-delineation proposals. 

The MB’s objections, along with that of tens of thousands of voters, were thrown out by the EC. 

Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) executive director Cynthia Gabriel said the new boundaries, which will affect all federal territories and states except Sabah and Sarawak, would be divisive. 

“The re-delineation seeks to divide the Malaysian electorate based on race,” she told The Malaysian Insight. 

“We should move towards better ethnic relations. The often-used label that we are a moderate country internationally has now been trashed. It’s a divide and rule by race tactic, amounting to soft apartheid rule. It’s a shame,” she said. 

Electoral pressure group Engage, has also said that the new boundaries, tabled by Prime Minister Najib Razak today, also revealed that state and parliamentary seats controlled by the ruling Barisan Nasional can have up to four times fewer voters than opposition-controlled constituencies.

“The present proposal is totally unfair and amounts to giving a four-goal advantage to BN and it will destroy the credibility of elections in Malaysia and the racial harmony, and free and fair elections in Selangor as well,” Gabriel said.  

She said Selangor govt has at least 3 “unrequited expert reports clearly showing malapportionment and gerrymandering” 

“It has caused the destruction of local ties, caused inconvenience and is not compliant with Section 2 of Schedule 13 of the federal constitution.”

Gabriel said the legitimacy of the government will be questioned, no matter what the results of the looming election. 

“Gerrymandering is a polite way of saying cheating. I am a Petaling Jaya Utara voter, and I personally feel very impacted by all the senseless redrawing of boundaries. 

“It’s one of the largest constituencies now and it makes a mockery of the one person one vote thing. My vote no longer counts. This is unconstitutional and constitutes outright cheating even before the elections are underway.” Gabriel said of the constituency, which was renamed to Damansara.

Damansara will be the country’s largest parliamentary constituency, has 150,439 voters.

The 14th general election must be held by August. However, Parliament is expected to be dissolved soon after the current sitting, paving the way for polls to be held by late April or May. 

A total of 222 parliamentary seats and 505 state seats, not including Sarawak’s, will be contested. Sarawak held its state elections in 2016. – March 28, 2018.