Rashid has virtually confirmed that previous constituency redelineation exercises violated the “one man, one vote, one value” principle and establishing that the Election Commission totally lacks transparency, credibility, integrity and professionalism

The nation must thank Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman, the one man with the most experience as Secretary and Chairman of the Election Commission who managed not only six of 13 general elections but responsible for three of the four constituency redelineations in Malaysia, for admitting that the Election Commission has never lived up to its constitutional responsibility of being an independent and non-partisan body but was only an appendage of UMNO/Barisan Nasional to ensure their perpetual hold to political power.

Rashid’s joining of Perkasa is shocking enough, but this is nothing compared to his virtual confession that he had been responsible for the gerrymandering of the parliamentary and state assembly constituencies in three of the four constituency redelineations in the nation’s history.

Justifying his joining Perkasa, Rashid said that power was a numbers game and he could ensure that the Malays remain in power as this was the agenda of three constituency redelineation exercises conducted during his time with the Election Commission.

Rashid has not only confirmed, but become the most notable witness, of the fact that previous constituency redelineations were gerrymandering exercises which violated the “one man, one vote, one value” principle and establishing that the Election Commission totally lacks transparency, credibility, integrity and professionalism.

But these “gerrymandering” exercises were not to ensure that the Malays remain in power but to ensure that UMNO/BN remain in power as they were also directed against Malays not in Umno.

This is best illustrated by the last redelineation exercise which came into force in 2003 and was used for the 2004, 2008 and 2014 general elections.

The Election Commission violated three redelineation guidelines in the 2003 redelineation of constituencies causing further deviation from the “one man, one vote, one value” principle, viz:

  • Deviation from the redelineation principle that the state in Peninsular Malaysia with the largest number of registered voters is allocated the most number of parliamentary seats;

  • Interpretation of “rural weightage” to place Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah above the parliamentary quota in peninsular Malaysia for the first time in the history of constituency redelineation; and

  • Reversal of the process to narrow the disparity in the number of electors among the constituencies started in the 1984 and 1994 redelineation exercises.

In the 2003 constituency redelineation, Johore was allocated six new parliamentary seats. Based on Johore’s allocation (totalling 26 seats) and the Election Commission’s redelineation guideline in previous exercises that the state in Peninsular Malaysia with the largest number of registered voters is allocated the most number of parliamentary seats, a fair and equitable redelineation of the electoral constituencies in 2003 would be to allocate ten new parliamentary seats to Selangor (giving Selangor a total of 27 seats instead of 22) and one new parliamentary seat each for Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah.

This is because Selangor had the most number of registered voters with 1,368,693 voters (an increase of 44.18% from the previous redelineation in 1993) as compared to Johore which was second with 1,223,532 voters (an increase of 24.5%).

Similarly, Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah should be allocated one new parliamentary seat each in view of the 16.2%, 21.76% and 17.4% increase of voters respectively since the last redelineation, as Negri Sembilan and Malacca were allocated one new seat each with 20.04% and 23% increase of voters respectively. Pahang, with 21.39% increase in voters, (less than the 21.76% increase registered by Terengganu), was allocated three new parliamentary seats.

The reason for violating this redelineation guideline that the state in Peninsular Malaysia with the largest number of registered voters is allocated the most number of parliamentary seats is purely political, as giving 10 new parliamentry seats to Selangor would be quite dicey politically for Umno/BN as in the 1999 general election, Umno/BN only secured 53.84% of the total votes cast, losing six state assembly seats to the Opposition.

Giving six new parliamentary seats to Johore, however, is regarded as a “sure bet” for BN/Umno as Johore was regarded as their fortress, with Umno/BN securing 71% of the votes cast in the state in the 1999GE, sweeping all the 20 Parliamentary and 40 State Assembly seats in the State.

Similarly the refusal to allocate additional seats for Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah as warranted by past redelineation practices was purely political, as it was directed againsst PAS to ensure that Umno (and not Malays) is entrenched in power at the federal level.

Very pertinent about the lack of independence and professionalism of the Election Commission in the past redelineation exercise is the statement yesterday by the DAP MP for Serdang, Dr. Ong Kian Ming, who said:

“I was part of an Institute Kajian Malaysia dan Antarabangsa (IKMAS ) study team from UKM looking at the constituency delineation process and I remember distinctly Rashid telling the members of the study team that he had received instructions from then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad not to add any seats in the three northern states and also to create more ethnically ‘mixed’ seats.

“The presumption then was that non-Malays would not vote for the opposition, namely PAS, and having more non-Malay voters in these seats would help the BN.”

Rashid has clearly betrayed the constitutional trust bestowed on him when he was secretary and chairman of the Election Commission and is a living witness why the present batch of Election Commission members should be replaced by a truly independent, impartial and professional Election Commission, who commands the confidence of all political parties and NGOs to conduct the new constituency redelineation in a fair, democratic and unbiased manner.

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14 Replies to “Rashid has virtually confirmed that previous constituency redelineation exercises violated the “one man, one vote, one value” principle and establishing that the Election Commission totally lacks transparency, credibility, integrity and professionalism”

  1. As this has been an open secret by none other than the horse’s mouth,what can be done to right the wrong ? Will this be also swept under the carpet ? No wonder Deepak got a long list of supply for carpets from FLOM office. Maria Chin Abdullah,get Bersih 4 ready,we will march to Putrajaya and leave no carpets unturned.

  2. Yes, how about a new Bersih 4.0 that will go round the country in town halls, community centres, padangs and stadiums to demand EC revise all parliament and state constituencies. Calling all volunteers, individuals, and organizations to help Bersih 4.0 ensure fair and transparent elections starting with GE 14…

  3. The harsh truth is that with the exception of a very few in cut-off rural areas and most apathetic, ALMOST EVERYONE of both side KNOWS that the EC is an UMNO/BN tool. Just as we know the crime is rising, our schools bad, the judiciary is broken, religion and their institution abused, even our constitution in shambles,

    WE HAVE A BROKEN COUNTRY. Period. Structurally its broken. What holds it together is economic growth which increasingly not enough because its underserve more and more, sheer remarkable traditional tolerance of the races that goes back CENTURIES – before UMNO, before Islam and likely before Malay even and yes, potential extraordinary unaccountable power of the authorities.

    A country is not held together by land mass, economics, desperation and fear, its held together by will, agreement and by dreams and hopes especially those common. Absent of these things and its increasingly absent from years of abuse by UMNO/BN we don’t have a country, not in that matter mostly..

  4. Hai yah, open secret lah, most rakyat knew EC kaki r UmnoB/BN’s K9, woof wooof
    What can U do? What can rakyat do?
    Sad 2 say, NOTHING – What UmnoB wants, UmnoB gets
    So much widespread n widely known CORRUPTION propagated everyday by UmnoB/BN kaki, any action? Any punishment? Dis is BOLEHland mah

  5. He knowingly and willfully did what he did, with malice. He planned the results and consequences of his dirty work. What do you call this in criminal and civil law? This is a very serious thing that he did. Can he be charged under something or other?

    More importantly, is what he did, his dastardly work and plans, still being carried out in the current EC?

    Does the EC take orders and instructions, directly or indirectly, overtly or covertly, from the powers there be so that the government can and will remain in power, now for 56 years already ?

  6. I am told that many things and abuses are done ‘legally’ as they ‘follow the law, SOP etc etc’ so you cannot catch and charge the culprits. It is a Malaysian culture and tradition where everyone scratches everyone else’s back and protect each other. All the gatekeepers are carefully selected and they know what to do and what is expected of them (wink, wink). They are all on that gravy train.

  7. Ultimate plan
    EC will ensure 1 or 2 million voters in an urban constituency elect 1 non-UmnoB/BN MP or ADUN
    but many non-urban constituencies with small-number-voters elect many UmnoB/BN MPs or ADUNs
    Yes, perpetuate MINORITY-elected UmnoB/BN’s gomen under ‘democratic’ process

  8. Two observations:

    (1) This idiot actually did us a favour by revealing the unconstitutional stuff he (and therefore by direct extension, umno) did.

    (2) The umno-safe-deposit-box heavy redelineation exercise will work like a double edge sword. Of course it worked in umno’s favour. For now. But imagine when pakatan makes inroad to those umno-safe states (say, for eg johore) umno would surely fall faster and harder precise because of the delineation.

    So umno actually has a lot a lot more to worry come the next round.

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