In ‘real politics’, Umno uses redelineation to ease infighting, says political analyst

The redelineation exercise is not only used by the ruling government to stay in power, but also had been used in the past to reduce infighting within Umno, said an academic today.

Academy of Democratic Education and Citizenship director Dr Shaharuddin Badarudin said Umno had over the years used the creation of new constituencies to solve conflicts within it.

"When we talk about redelineation, we cannot avoid talking about real politics. Umno has the power, so to appease the infighting within it, new boundaries were created. It happened before in several states," said Shaharuddin at a forum organised by Bar Council in Petaling Jaya today.

He said this was one of the reasons why the redelineation was carried out.

However, Shaharuddin said, the next redelineation exercise which will be carried out by EC will be risky to the Barisan Nasional government.

"They know they cannot get the two-thirds majority anymore. So right now, they have to put their thinking cap on, to carefully choose which formula to undertake. Will it be based on the redelineation exercise carried out after 2003 or before it?" said Shaharuddin.

He said the new exercise will also see an increase in the number of seats.

"I anticipated that the new boundaries will also come with additional seats in three main states which had been 'penalised' for the way voters voted in the 1999 general election, namely Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah," said Shaharuddin.

He said it was the “talk” among the analysts that the Malays were “penalised” for the 1999 general election which resulted in more mixed constituencies in the 2003 redelineation exercise.

An overwhelming number of Malays voted for PAS in these states during that election, resulting in the Islamists party capturing Terengganu, making inroads in Kedah and retaining Kelantan with a thumping majority.

"But the move has back fired. It was seen in 2008 and 2013 election where the Chinese votes turned against the Barisan Nasional," said Shaharuddin.

He said while BN will hold discussion with the opposition, the ruling government needed to figure out whether they are going to create more “ethnic-based” constituencies where the majority race is only one group or based on a “rich-and-poor” community.

"We know BN still can gain votes from the ‘poor’. An ethnic-concentrated constituent is a bit risky as well, as the Malay vote is also unpredictable," said Shaharuddin.