SEPTEMBER 25 — The simplest definition of democracy is the “rule of the commoners”, and the most fundamental way of implementing it is to allow the people to decide the government which will help manage the affairs involving the general public on their behalf.
Unfortunately this is just the crudest form of understanding on democracy. The sheer presence of a government elected by the people may not necessarily mean the true essence and significance of democracy have been implemented to the full.
Often there are obstacles and problems awaiting to be solved along the way of bringing democracy into fruition, an example being the redelineation of electoral constituencies.
The proposed redelineation by the EC has been widely seen as a form of gerrymandering through manipulative transfer of voters from a constituency to another. Such unfair practise has since sparked widespread controversies among the people.
Under the proposed redelineation exercise, the number of mixed constituencies will be drastically reduced with the sudden emergence of additional Malay-dominant or Chinese-majority seats. This is going to be largely favourable to Umno which is believed to still have the support of majority of the Malays.
As for the argument that DAP will also benefit from the redelineation, things may not necessarily work this way. As a matter of fact, by concentrating Chinese voters to some specific constituencies, the party’s prospects of expanding beyond its traditional Chinese strongholds will be effectively curtailed.
Expectedly the redelineation proposal has drawn tremendous backlash from the public although the EC claims that it has not sided any particular party.
Parties across both sides of the political divide have registered their displeasure with EC’s proposal, including MCA, Gerakan, DAP, PKR, etc. Sure enough Umno is not among them.
To be honest, those who should protest the loudest are the voters because their noble power of electing their leaders has been wickedly trampled.
The public nevertheless appear powerless in front of those in power. The ballots accorded to the citizens under the democratic electoral system are by right the ultimate decisive factor in power delegation. If even the effect of this ballot can be deliberately diluted and manipulated, there will be no assurance to the public’s rights and liberty.
One man one vote and equal vote weightage make ideal benchmarks for a democratic election. Unfortunately given the limitations from a number of realistic factors, such a lofty standard has become an unreachable aspiration.
That being said, at least we must move forward towards this end instead of straying further and further from it, allowing votes in different constituencies to carry vastly different weights.
This is not democracy but sheer manipulation by the power that is.
When unequal vote weightage is allowed to gain strength, and when a supposedly democratic election is being unfairly manipulated, democracy will have lost its soul, leaving only a hollow shell.
“Power” is the apple that is tempting man, and the holders of power are akin to Adam. It is hard to expect them to conform to the spirit of democracy and not to resort to whatsoever means within their reach to unlawfully retain the power. Gerrymandering has unfortunately become a convenient tool for many power-hungry leaders worldwide.
We need to cap the destructive power of constituency redelineation to our democratic system through legislation, by restricting the differences in the numbers of voters in different constituencies within an acceptable ratio. Such a legislation needs the push from our society top-down, and the voice of the people is all the more crucial to ensure its success.
Gerrymandering is a hurdle that stands in the way of democracy and in no way should we allow it to go unchecked. — Sin Chew Daily
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.
