IPOH, March 30 ― Perak MCA youth chief Ting Tai Fook has described the redrawing of electoral boundaries that was passed by Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday as an advantage for Opposition parties to win seats.

Citing Beruas parliamentary constituency as an example, Ting said it would now see an additional state seat of Sitiawan which had been renamed as Astaka.

“The Barisan machinery in Sitiawan will now have to report to a new chairman,” he said, adding that Beruas with the electoral boundary exercise it now has three state seats — Pantai Remis, Pengkalan Bharu and Astaka.

Speaking to Malay Mail, Ting said the redelineation also affects the Lumut constituency, which is now only left with two state seats of Pasir Panjang and Pangkor.

“Lumut is now a Malay majority seat,” said Ting of the naval town seat that was traditionally contested by MCA.

During the 2013 general election, PKR’s First Admiral (Rtd) Mohamad Imran Abd Hamid beat Barisan’s Tan Sri Kong Cho Ha with an 8,168 majority vote.

Sitiawan, which is a 74 per cent Chinese seat, contributed to the bulk of votes.

Ting said following the redelineation, there is now a need for better coordination among the Barisan coalition parties.

“We will still support the decision in the spirit of Barisan but in essence, we are helping the Opposition to win,” he said.

“The redelineation will see Opposition parties get a higher majority but this is democracy,” he added.

MCA Youth central committee member Jimmy Loh said voters were moved based on their race under the new electoral boundaries.

“This is not healthy. Where will the people seek help when they face problems related to local issues such as uncollected rubbish or clogged drains?” he asked, adding that Opposition lawmakers only highlighted national issues and left local issues to Barisan.

Gerakan’s Liew Kar Tuan who is speculated to contest in Canning state seat under Ipoh Timur parliament, however said the redelineation is a disadvantage to both Barisan and the Opposition.

“If a candidate has been working on the ground and serving the people, they need not worry about the exercise,” he said.

For Canning, Liew said the redelineation would see one polling station moved to Tambun parliamentary.

“Previously, Canning had 13 stations but now, there is only 12,” he said, adding that its voters dropped from 35,181 in 2013 to 32,298 now.

He also said political parties should not see a seat as being dominated by one race.

“If a particular race decides to stay in an area, we cannot blame them,” he added.

Perak PKR election bureau vice-chief Tan Kar Hing said the redelineation was a move designed to help Umno win more marginal seats without even bothering about the survival of other component parties including MCA and Gerakan.

“Lumut is a typical example where the Election Commission irrationally moved out the entire Sitiawan state seat which is a Chinese majority to secure BN’s winning chance. This has dramatically increased Malay votes in Lumut to 71per cent,” he said, adding that the redelineation had increased ethnic segregation.

“For instance, Sungai Rapat which was previously a sub-urban mixed seat has now turned into a Malay majority seat. Some 11,000 voters were moved to Tebing Tinggi while 7,000 voters were moved to Simpang Pulai,” he said.

Tan, who is Simpang Pulai incumbent, said if during the 13th general election Sungai Rapat was a white area for the Opposition, it is now a grey seat.

“But we believe it is still possible for Pakatan Harapan to win despite the redelineation if there is a 5 per cent swing in Malay votes and the outstation voters must return to vote,” he added.

In the approved redelineation, 16 parliamentary seats were affected.

The seats are Larut, Parit Buntar, Bukit Gantang, Taiping, Tambun, Ipoh Timur, Ipoh Barat, Batu Gajah, Beruas, Kampar, Gopeng,Tapah, Lumut, Bagan Datuk, Teluk Intan and Tanjung Malim.

Six of it was won by BN, six DAP, PKR two, Amanah and Pas one each.