The recently gazetted redelineation exercise by the Election Commission (EC) is a "tragedy waiting to happen" as it will cause a split among the different races in the country, Pusat Komas said.
The human rights NGO said in a statement today that the exercise is clearly meant to side a certain party by means of gerrymandering and manipulating electoral boundaries.
"Besides committing 'tyranny' on the people's voting power, the redelineation will also cause a serious impact on racial unity in the long run.
"An election, which is supposed to be a festival to celebrate the people's democracy, is beginning to look like a tragedy waiting to happen, by splitting the different races in the nation. This is an indirect effect of the split and rule concept practised by the EC," the statement said.
Pusat Komas also expressed shock at the admission by EC chairperson Mohd Hashim Abdullah in an interview with the New Straits Times today that the redelineation proposal drew constituency boundaries along racial lines, in the interest of keeping ethnic groups together.
"Such a remark is ignorant and full of prejudice, and should not have come from someone in Mohd Hashim's position.
"We regret that the EC, which is supposed to act fair to ensure a smooth day at the polls, has deliberately chosen to pit ethnic groups against one another in the forthcoming election.
"As an institution, EC should hang its shame in front of the rakyat," said the NGO, further urging voters to turn out in huge numbers to cast their votes, as "it is the only way to defeat the dirty election system."
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