ERC proposes boundary commissions for redelineations

INTERVIEW | Election Reform Committee (ERC) chairperson Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman said it will propose to the government to form boundary commissions every eight years for the sole purpose of redelineation exercises.

"In the future, things will be done differently because we are recommending a separate boundary commission for the redrawing of electoral boundaries.

"Probably in our case, we may have three boundary commissions. One for the peninsula, one for Sabah and one for Sarawak.

"We are recommending that and we hope the government will agree," Abdul Rashid (above) told Malaysiakini in a recent interview in his office at Putrajaya.

He said the formation of such independent boundary commissions would lift the burden from the Election Commission (EC).

"The responsibility is no longer the EC's so the EC will not be burdened and be accused of working for the party in power," he said.

The boundary commissions will be independent and will be set up for the sole purpose of redrawing the boundaries, he added.

"Once in eight years, we'll form that committee. Once done, job done, the committee goes away, simple," Abdul Rashid said.

He revealed the proposal for boundary commissions when responding to a question about malapportionment and gerrymandering. He had earlier answered that people had been "misled in so many ways".

"If you talk to me, I can talk for three hours [...] proving there is no gerrymandering, there is no malapportionment.

"But of course, in reality, you see different numbers of voters being placed in different constituencies.

"Of course, there are good reasons for all this but we don't argue over that matter," said Abdul Rashid, who was the EC chief from 2000 to 2008.

The last redelineation exercise for Peninsular Malaysia was conducted just two months before the 14th general election (GE14) last year.

Under Article 113 of the Federal Constitution, redelineation exercises can only be carried out once every eight years.

This means that the next redelineation exercise can only be done in 2026 while the 15th general election (GE15) must be called by 2023. - Mkini