SHAH ALAM, March 28 — The Selangor state assembly today voted to condemn and reject the Election Commission’s (EC) redelineation report that would see major changes in the state’s constituencies.
Bukit Gasing assemblyman Rajiv Rishyakaran, who raised the motion, said the EC’s proposal to redraw constituency boundaries will only give Barisan Nasional (BN) an advantage in Selangor in the 14th general election.
“We are quite certain the proposal will be passed today and there’s only one reason why this is being rushed,” he told a press conference, indicating that it was done because the 14th general election was expected to be called after the current Parliament meeting.
When debating the motion, Seri Andalas assemblyman Dr Xavier Jayakumar said there were ongoing court cases on the matter and that it was disrespectful for Parliament Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia to allow the tabling of the proposal.
“When it is 1MDB or FGV matters, parliamentarians are barred from speaking about these issues in Parliament.
“But today, despite four court cases on this redelineation exercise, the Speaker decides to overlook and continue to allow the tabling of this proposal,” he said.
Bukit Lanjan assemblyman Elizabeth Wong claimed that the redelineation proposal, if passed, will make the 14th general election the dirtiest election in history.
“But we have to trust in our voters. Selangor government has done a lot for the people here and we, therefore, hope that the people will know who is better,” she said.
Later at the lobby, Speaker Hannah Yeoh said a letter about the state rejecting the exercise had been sent to Pandikar.
The report, which took the EC two years to prepare, mostly proposes changes of boundaries in Selangor, a state that has been won by the federal Opposition coalition in the last two elections, with five parliamentary seats going through name changes and nine state seats also being renamed.
In Selangor, the EC is proposing changing the Petaling Jaya Utara constituency to Damansara, the Serdang seat to Bangi, the Kelana Jaya seat to Subang, the Subang seat to Sungai Buloh, and Petaling Jaya Selatan to be known as just Petaling Jaya after this.
Damansara would become the biggest constituency in Selangor and also Peninsular Malaysia, having 150,439 voters, a significant increase in voter base compared to the 84,456 voters Petaling Jaya Utara currently has.
The proposed Petaling Jaya seat would have 129,363 voters, as compared to 78,404 voters Petaling Jaya Selatan currently has.
Similarly, Subang would have 128,330 voters, compared to the current name for the seat, Kelana Jaya, having 101,603 voters.
Bangi will have 146,168 voters compared to Serdang which now has 139,013 voters.
Klang, another urban seat, will also see a drastic increase in registered voters due to the change of boundaries despite having its name maintained. The constituency currently has over 98,000 voters, but this will increase to 136,222 voters.
The Sungai Buloh seat will see a decrease in voters, from 129,846 voters under its current name of Subang, to only 73,448 voters.
