SHAH ALAM, Dec 9 — Two Opposition leaders accused the Election Commission (EC) today of jeopardising harmony with its electoral boundary redrawing proposal in Klang that they insist will separate voters according to racial lines.

The duo from DAP and PKR also claimed that the rearrangement of boundaries that will see Malay-majority neighbourhoods grouped together under the proposed delineation will give an unfair advantage to the Barisan Nasional (BN) in the upcoming polls.

“This robbery involves taking away people’s rights and violating people’s rights and democracy in Malaysia,” Klang MP Charles Santiago told a news conference during the EC’s public inquiry of its proposed redelineation exercise here.

He said that the number of voters in his parliamentary seat stood at 97,000 in 2013 but will rise to 141,000 if the proposed redelineation goes through unchanged, raising the risk of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) pact losing four areas in Klang under its control, namely: Sungai Aur, Bukit Tinggi 1 and 2 and Bandar Botanic.

“We need all these four areas in order to win Port Klang. Usually we win by a majority of 2,000 to 3,000 from these said areas, but now the EC wants to move these areas to Kota Raja.

“Secondly, we have new friends who will be entering Klang. These people come from Sungai Pinang; 50 per cent of the Sungai Pinang population will move into the Klang parliament,” he said, then claiming that such a move would disrupt the ethnic balance of voters in Klang.

According to the DAP lawmaker, number of Malay voters in Klang in 2013 was 32.95 per cent but will be reduced to 27.81 per cent if the proposal goes ahead as is.

He added that the percentage of ethnic Chinese voters in the constituency which stood at 45.79 in 2013 while increase to 54.70 per cent, while ethnic Indian voters will drop from 19.80 per cent to 16.23 per cent.

“They have taken away Port Klang because in it, are the four places that gives victory to the Opposition,” he said.

Charles added that the redelineation will also see the Kota Alam Shah state seat, currently under the Klang parliamentary seat, parked under the Kota Raja parliamentary seat.

He also claimed that the value of votes in Klang will drop as a result of this redelineation exercise, comparing the number of voters in his seat to that in Sabak Bernam, which has 37,000 voters and Sungai Besar which has 42,000.

“Now Klang is 141,000. This means the value of one vote from Sungai Besar is equivalent to 3.33 persons in Klang. This does not qualify as equality in votes,” he said.

PKR coordinator for Port Klang, Azmizam Zaman Huri said that apart from malapportionment, the EC did not provide sufficient details regarding the areas to be redrawn on its website.

He said this made it tough for affected voters to file the grounds for their objection against the redelineation.

“The suggested redelineated map given by the EC in the redelineation notice of constituencies which was displayed between September 15, 2016 and October 14, 2016 did not have specific details on the new boundaries which were suggested for the affected areas.

“As for the Port Klang state seat, N46, the EC’s map which was displayed did not have names of roads, residential area, and other crucial information,” he said, adding that this caused much confusion among voters in the area.

Azmizam also echoed Charles sentiment, adding that the EC’s suggested boundaries may create racial disunity in Selangor, and disproportionate value in individual votes.

He said there were 2,078,311 voters in Selangor and 56 state seats, which should be see a proportionate number of about 37,113 voters in each state seat.

However, he claimed that this was not the case in Port Klang, which saw a reduction of votes by 28,600 people, via the EC’s proposed redelineation.

“As a comparison, N47 the Pandamaran state seat which is right beside Port Klang, has 59,917 people,” he said, adding that this meant there would be twice as many voters in Pandamaran as in N46 Port Klang.  

“So this distribution has totally violated Subsection 2© of the 13th schedule of the Federal Constitution.

“It’s not fair that two votes from Pandamaran is equivalent to one vote in Port Klang. This will also make it difficult for any elected representative to give service to voters in their areas. For example, Charles has to serve 141,000 voters, but whoever wins in Putrajaya, Sabak Bernam or Sungai Besar will have it easier,” Azmizam said.

Azmizam, Charles and several voters from Klang had attended the EC’s redelineation objection hearing at the Concorde Hotel here.