SUNGAI BESI, Sept 19 — PKR’s Rafizi Ramli said today that he will be submitting a private member’s Bill in Parliament to amend the Federal Constitution in order to remove the Election Commission’s (EC) powers of constituency redelineation.
The Pandan MP said that the motion would be looking to amend Article 113 in the Federal Constitution on the conduct of elections and to give redelineation powers to another body, amid controversy surrounding the EC’s current redelineation exercise.
“I will be putting in a private member's Bill to amend Article 113 of the Federal Constitution which is on [the] conduct of elections.
“The amendment will separate the power of redelineation from SPR and under an independent body,” Rafizi said during a press conference today, using the Malay initials for the EC.
The opposition MP, however, did not specify which other body should have such powers.
The PKR secretary-general added that although objections can be made with the EC on its recent redelineation exercise, he said he has lost faith in the commission being independent and unbiased.
“I don't believe in SPR, it’s not going to make a difference. Best way is to remove them out of the equation.
“Whole country should join in removing them, so they can never do this again,” Rafizi said, adding that he expects to submit the motion by next week.
He also would be discussing with other Pakatan Harapan politicians to go about submitting the motion during the next Dewan Rakyat sitting which begins on October 22.
Rafizi claimed that the new redelineation exercise was intended to eradicate mixed seats in Malaysia which are mainly controlled by the opposition.
"The long term effect of the redelineation is to get rid of mixed seats in the whole country, which causes the Malay majority seats to increase rampantly every time this exercise is done.
"The clear poll is that redelineation will reduce mixed seats. The movement of voters is done in mixed seats and the moving out of non-Malay voters from the areas," he explained.
The recent redelineation by the EC is also a "double edged sword" for Barisan Nasional (BN) non-Malay component parties as it seems to oust them, while giving Umno more control, Rafizi said.
"BN's non-Malay component parties will lose seats as their mixed seats will become a Malay majority which Umno will want to contest.
"Kapar which used to have Indian majority but now has a Malay majority, Umno might ask for that. Same goes for component party seats like Selayang, Puchong and Subang as well," he added.
"The most stupid thing for them to do is to allow this to happen. The stupidest thing to do in their history is allowing Umno/ BN to allow this redelineation to happen," Rafizi warned the BN component parties.
A volunteer group, INVOKE, under Rafizi will be holding an awareness campaign on the redelineation exercise.
The group would be going from door to door in affected constituencies and even be seeking support from all parliamentarians, state assemblymen and politicians from both sides of the divide.
"We will launch a campaign to get support from all the people, including parliamentarians and state assemblyman from both sides.
"The campaign will have three activities. We would have an online campaign, to get support from local leaders, parliamentarians, civil society, as well as the Majlis Raja-Raja," Rafizi said referring to the Conference of Rulers.
The campaign is expected to kick off this Thursday in Bandar Utama, Selangor, with volunteers planning to go from house to house to enlighten the public on the recent redelineation.
The EC in an 18-page notice had reportedly proposed to alter the electoral boundaries of several parliamentary and state constituencies in all states bar Perlis, Labuan and Putrajaya.
The proposed amendments could see 12 parliamentary and 34 state constituencies in the peninsula undergo a name change while it also listed 13 proposed new state constituencies for Sabah, increasing the number of the state seats to 73.
But Pakatan Harapan leaders alleged the some of the proposed redelineation exercise would carve out opposition-held federal and state seats to favour BN, especially in Johor and Selangor. BN component parties MCA and Gerakan have also expressed concern over the exercise.
Among the constituencies that would be affected by the proposed changes are Pagoh in Johor and Lembah Pantai. The former is held by sacked Umno leader Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and the latter by PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar.
According to the EC, objections to the recommendations can only be made by the state government, local authorities partly or partially included in the redelineation exercise, or a group of no less than 100 registered voters of an affected constituency.
