Wan Ahmad denies involvement in 2003 delineation, demands apology

Pathma Subramaniam, fz.com

Election Commission (EC) deputy chairman Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar had demanded newly-elected Serdang parliamentarian Ong Kian Ming apologise for accusing him of having a hand in the electoral delineation exercise last conducted in 2003.

“I was not the deputy chairman then. I was the secretary to the then seven member panel comprising of the chairman and deputy chairman who have since retired,” he told fz.com when contacted.

“I was only appointed in December 2004. The delineation exercise started in 2002 and ended in March 2003.

“This is a very irresponsible coming from the young MP, who has made assumption without double-checking his facts,” he said in rebuking Ong, who is the DAP stategist.

Ong, in statement yesterday, said the EC did not perform their duties according to the law and was biased in redrawing the electoral boundaries during last exercise while Wan Ahmad was deputy. He alluded that with the Wan Ahmad’s continued service in EC in the proposed upcoming delineation would be equally problematic.

Ong cited Kedah as an example, where voters were moved in and out of constituencies arbitrarily.

He stated that he has no confidence the delimitation will be done “transparently and fairly” as long as Wan Ahmad remains a part of the commission.

Ong insulted the EC

Wan Ahmad, however, refused to entertain claims of irregularities posed by Ong but countered by advising the latter to take his woes to the then chairman, Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman, for clarification.

“I didn’t have a say in the previous exercise. I don’t want to comment on it. The decision to authorise delineation is taken after a series of stakeholders’ consultation and public inquiry.

“Once that’s done the redrawn boundaries are displayed for public scrutiny for two months before it is passed in Parliament and legislative assemblies.

“Ong insinuated that one person makes the decision. He insults the credibility of the seven member panel which was appointed by the Agong and a panel which made the decision collectively based on many discussions and groundwork,” said Wan Ahmad.

“If he has a complaint he should go after the previous panel, not me.

“This is nonsense. I would like to extend an invite to him to my office and he can check the documents himself. He was probably in college when the exercise was conducted in 2003. This is very unprofessional of him,” he said.

During the delimitation in 2003, the EC proposed 25 new parliamentary and 53 new legislative assembly constituencies, bringing the total number of federal and state seats to 222 and 604 respectively.

Despite the EC’s assurance that the delineation was done in accordance to regulations stipulated by law, political parties and electoral reforms groups have consistently raised grievances on the irregularities to which the EC has remained unresponsive.

Opposition are driven by ‘hatred’

Wan Ahmad asserted that he has been straightforward in dealing with the assaults by the federal opposition, Pakatan Rakyat.

“Every time they raise an issue, I have answered their queries with numbers and statistics. But they insist on gunning us down with perception.

“I think they (the opposition) have completely lost focus because of the hatred they nurture,” he hit back.

Reiterating that the remark is disparaging to his reputation, Wan Ahmad asked Ong to be “fair” and “to start his political career on a clean slate”.