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| Image Credit: Flickr/Firdaus La Malaysia’s Long History of Election Rigging Opposition candidate Mahathir Mohammed is just as guilty as current Prime Minister Najib Razak. By Shrish Srivastava January 11, 2018 In many countries in Southeast Asia, having elections is a meaningless exercise; in the end, the same party always ends up ruling the state. Malaysia is a prima facie example. The quality of elections in Malaysia has been poor, primarily because of the practices of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition. Methods such as gerrymandering, misuse of institutional tools, elite cohesion pacts, and malapportionment have been used to retain power in the past – including by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, just tapped by the opposition as their candidate. With that in mind, it’s worth looking at what Malaysian leaders have done to cling on to power in the past, while at the same time degrading the sanctity of elections in the region … for more, go to https://thediplomat.com/2018/01/malaysias-long-history-of-election-rigging/ |
You got it all wrong, Bersih! The problem is gerrymandering!
Bersih got it very wrong when it called for a relook of the “first past the post system”.
The problem in Malaysia’s general elections is the gerrymandering of constituencies by the Election Commission (EC).
If the EC is fair, and sincerely wants fair and democratic elections for Malaysians to elect valid assemblymen and Members of Parliament (MPs) for Malaysia, then it must conduct a total revamp of the electoral boundaries based on a minimum number of voters per constituency.
That will most certainly resolve all the woes of unfair by-elections or general elections, as alleged for six decades of general elections.
As it is, some constituencies have barely 20,000 voters while others have more than 100,000! And the margin seems to be widening with every delineation exercise conducted by the EC.
Is that fair in general elections to decide state and federal governments once every five years?
Yes! This has been going on under the Alliance-Barisan Nasional (BN) government for 60 years.
And the then Opposition leaders and parties had been lamenting and complaining about BN’s gerrymandering tactics to win 13 consecutive general elections.
Now that Malaysians have mustered enough majority courage to dump the corrupt and dirty Umno-led BN, will the Pakatan Harapan (PH) lawmakers and federal government have the political will to make the democratic changes for electoral constituencies?
Are the PH leaders and federal government really sincere about wanting democratic elections and democracy for Malaysians and Malaysia?
Or is it PH’s turn to play the gerrymandering dirty politics?
Well! Time will tell as the PH federal administration is not yet even a year old. Let’s wait until the 15th General Election (GE15) to see whether PH is sincere to Malaysians and Malaysia!
And, now that lawyer Azhar Harun a.k.a Art Harun has been appointed the new Election Commission (EC) chairman, Malaysians can watch and judge whether the Pakatan Harapan federal government has the political will to initiate real changes and reforms for free and fair general elections.
This was what online news portal Free Malaysia Today (FMT) posted about Bersih’s call for free and fair elections:
"Relook first past the post system, Bersih says ahead of PD by-election
FMT Reporters
September 17, 2018 12:42 PM
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In a statement, it said the FPTP system required a by-election whenever vacancies arise due to the illness or death of incumbents, or when they become incapable or disqualified, or resign.
It said the resignation of Port Dickson MP Danyal Balagopal Abdullah to allow Anwar to contest a by-election showed “the rigidity of the FPTP system in allowing parties to alter their leadership line-up”.
“Admittedly, Anwar’s case is unique – unqualified to contest because of a politically motivated imprisonment, yet named as the next prime minister in a pre-election pact which elected in 55% of parliamentarians – and will not have an easy solution under any electoral system because of his sentence.
“However, the inflexibility for parties to adjust their leadership line-up – necessary for parliamentary governments – has wide implications beyond this case and beyond by-elections to replace deceased incumbents.”
It said one such consequence was the practice of appointing defeated candidates or unelected technocrats as senators before their appointment as ministers or deputy ministers.
“This makes the senate even more of a rubber stamp,” it said, adding that Pakatan Harapan (PH) now had five senators.
“More idiosyncratically, Anwar’s Kajang Move in 2014 was triggered because his party could not name him as a back-up candidate for menteri besar without a by-election.”
Noting that Anwar had triggered three by-elections so far, twice due to political trials, Bersih said the PKR president elect had a moral responsibility to clarify whether he wished to keep the FPTP system and “conveniently bend it to his interest”.
“It is high time for Malaysians to consider, and for Anwar to take a stand, on whether we want to continue having all our parliamentarians and state lawmakers elected through the FPTP system, or if we should move to a mixed-member system with some lawmakers elected through party list proportional representation (List-PR),” it said.
Although acknowledging the issue of dynastic politics brought up by Anwar’s move to contest in Port Dickson, Bersih said the bigger question was the “opaque” and “top-down” candidacy selection process across almost every party in the country.
Noting that the May 9 general election had seen many new candidates fielded by both PH and Barisan Nasional in last-minute arrangements, Bersih said this was often against the will of local branches and caused discontent, boycott or even sabotage.
“The resigned parliamentarian for Port Dickson was such a last-minute pick,” it added.
By right, it said, FPTP candidates should be selected from the bottom up by local branches, not party headquarters, as is done in the UK where the FPTP system was born and still applies.
“Nomination of candidates by party headquarters is only justified in List-PR.”
It called on the people to scrutinise the systemic defects of the Port Dickson by-election instead of focusing only on the personalities involved.
“When candidacy selection is top-down and opaque, can allegations of nepotism or cronyism be avoided even if a son, a daughter or an unrelated protege of a prominent leader is qualified to be a candidate in their own right?
Art Harun is new EC chairman (updated)
NATIONFriday, 21 Sep 2018
11:58 AM MYT
by rashvinjeet singh bedi
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Chief Secretary to the Government, Datuk Seri Ismail Bakar, said the Yang di-Pertuan Agong had agreed to Azhar’s appointment in line with Article 3 (114) of the Federal Constitution.
The 56-year-old Kedahan, who has a big online following, studied law at Universiti Malaya and King's College in London.
When contacted, Azhar said he was honoured to be entrusted with the position and viewed it as a responsibility that he had to perform according to the law and the oath he would be taking.
“That trust has to be performed well.
"Of course, there will be challenges, but I look forward to performing the trust the best I can. I will give my best,” he said when contacted.
Azhar said there were some things he would like to achieve with the commission, but it was too early to go into details at the moment.
Meanwhile Ismail said Azhar, who started practising law in 1987 with Allen & Gledhill before moving on to several other law firms, possessed expertise in electoral laws.
“With his qualifications and experience, I believe he will be able to carry out his duty, obligations and responsibilities as EC chairman in line with the requirements of the Federal Constitution,” he said."
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| Malaysia government accused of gerrymandering Malaysia's government has been criticised over plans to redraw electoral boundaries ahead of possible snap polls, with the opposition accusing it of gerrymandering. By Melissa Goh @MelGohCNA 22 Sep 2016 05:39PM KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's government has been criticised over plans to redraw electoral boundaries ahead of possible snap polls, with the opposition accusing it of gerrymandering to keep embattled Prime Minister Najib Razak in power. The Election Commission, whose members are picked by the government, has said it intends to reorganise boundaries in 112 parliamentary seats - about half the national total - as well as 445 of the 576 state seats. Opposition lawmaker Tony Pua from the Democratic Action Party (DAP) said the new boundaries are designed to ensure a win for Najib, who is embroiled in a massive corruption scandal involving state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). "With Najib Razak's popularity at the lowest in the history of prime ministers, and a 1MDB scandal that just refuses to go away, Najib has to find the formula to win the elections," Pua said on Thursday (Sep 22). He said the rearrangement aims to bundle opposition-inclined voters into "super-constituencies" with more than 100,000 voters, while breaking up ruling party supporters into smaller, multiple constituencies … for more, go to https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/malaysia-government-accused-of-gerrymandering-7814596 |
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