Gan: Redelineation exercise creates risk of radicalism

MCA man says proposal by EC will not help resolve racial and religious problems facing Malaysia.

KAJANG: Creating racially dominant constituencies raises the risk of creating an environment that allows radical people to become direct representatives of an area.

This is the view of MCA Shariah Law and Policy Implementation Special Task Force Chairman Gan Ping Sieu.

He was commenting on the proposed redelineation exercise by the Election Commission (EC).

Gan cried foul over the proposal, saying it would not help resolve the current situation in Malaysia where racial and religious problems persist.

“If we allow the creation of more racially dominant constituencies, everything we’ve worked for will come to ruin. This is ground to breed politicians who are radical in their ethnic views.

“If my constituency is 90 per cent Malays, surely I will speak the language they want to listen. By building racially dominant constituencies, we take the risk of creating an environment that allows radical people to become direct reps of that area.

“We are still facing racial and religious problems. This exercise will not make them any better,” Gan said at a forum on voters’ rights to redelineation at the Church of the Holy Family, Kajang.

“There is a myth that the Malays must support Umno, but there is no such thing. PAS and PKR would not have won so many votes then.

“In 1999, BN was saved by Chinese and Indian votes. Voters do change during elections. It is for us to do the work to show that we are better than our opponents, not base it on race,” said Gan.

Umno Information Chief Annuar Musa had earlier said the party would oppose the plan.

According to The Malay Mail Online, Annuar reportedly said Umno would encourage its members to fight against the redelineation exercise individually and as a party.

The redelineation proposal had received much flak from several parties, including Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties MCA and Gerakan.

MCA President Liow Tiong Lai had previously said the MCA would present its counter proposal on the redrawing of election boundaries by the EC at the BN Supreme Council meeting.

Opposition party PKR vice-presidents Tian Chua and Nurul Izzah Anwar had earlier expressed their discontent with the proposal. The party’s president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismai, too, is unhappy with the redelineation. The Opposition sees it as favouring the BN.