KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 21 ― The Election Commission's proposed redelineation was designed to set up a clash between the racial politics of Umno and DAP, Datuk Ti Lian Ker asserted today when warning that it could rend the country asunder.
The MCA central committee member also said that unless the exercise is reviewed, the divisions of voters by race could lay the foundation for race-based government policies that could do lasting damage to the goodwill among the country's various communities.
“Demarcation of constituencies according to racial lines does not augur well for the nation, and would lead to unhealthy politics and tear the nation apart.
“This was because the proposed redelineation seem to serve to pit Umno’s political tendency of Malay supremacy against DAP's politics of Chinese chauvinism,” he said in a statement today.
Ti, who also chairs MCA's Religious Harmony Bureau, said the proposal by the EC also ran counter to Barisan Nasional's politics and policies of moderation.
The EC notified the public last week of its plan to redraw the boundaries of 12 parliamentary and 34 state constituencies, with several also to be renamed.
The move was met with criticism not only from the usual sources in the opposition, but also some in the ruling BN including MCA and Gerakan that voiced concerns over the apparent segregation of voters along ethnic lines.
The EC has denied that the move was meant to help protect the political power of the Malay-based Umno, the lynchpin of the BN coalition.
It further said the redelineation was not yet final and still subject to public objections
