BERSIH 2.0 calls on the Election Commission to resign over its scandalous attempt to expedite its flawed redelineation proposal by by-passing the state of Selangor, while the judicial review is still being heard by the court.
BERSIH 2.0 stresses that the EC’s second proposal, which was published yesterday for display for a month, is unconstitutional and smacks of contempt of court because it has taken Selangor out from the “States of Malaya”.
Article 113(6) of the Federal Constitution stipulates that:
There shall be separate reviews under Clause (2) for the States of Malaya and for each of the States of Sabah and Sarawak, and for the purposes of this Part the expression “unit of review” shall mean, for federal constituencies, the area under review and, for State constituencies, the State and the expression “States of Malaya” shall include the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya.
It is very clear from the Article and the previous redelineation exercises that all states of Malaya and the federal territories are to be redelineated in one go. The EC is completely silent on why Selangor is excluded in the exercise in defiance of Article 113(6)’s stipulation and previous practices.
As the EC cannot have acted on its own, we demand the Attorney General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali and whoever in the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) is responsible in advising the EC to account to the public for their advice.
The EC’s inelegant silence cannot conceal the shame it has brought to itself by tearing apart Article 113 and the Thirteenth Schedule in its first proposal published on September 15, for not only Selangor, but the entire Peninsula and also Sabah.
The Selangor suit has exposed the EC’s blatant and extensive non-compliance with the Thirteenth Schedule.
Sub-section 2(c) demands apportionment to be approximately equal. Yet the EC proposed vast disparity, with the largest parliamentary constituency, P106 Damansara having 4.05 times as many voters at the smallest one, P092 Sabak Bernam.
Sub-section 2(d) demands “maintenance of local ties.” Yet, the EC proposed to fragment local authorities such that the proposed P107 Sungai Buloh spans across 4 local authorities and the proposed N41 Batu Tiga spans across 3 local authorities.
Sub-section 2(d) demands attention on “inconveniences” caused by boundary changes. Yet, the Senior Federal Counsel representing the EC admitted in court that the EC never considered any unintended consequences of its proposals.
The EC should respect the Judge, the Courts and the judicial review process. The EC should await and learn from the court’s wise decision. The EC should apply the decision to other states.
Instead, Datuk Seri Mohd Hashim Abddullah and his EC, under the apparent bad counsel of Tan Sri Apandi’s AGC, has chosen to treat with utter contempt the judge presiding over the Selangor suit, the Judiciary and the Federal Constitution.
Malaysians must all stand up and condemn the EC’s scandalous “Selangor by-pass”. We must tell them that they are not above the law, the Court and the Federal Constitution.
Signed by the BERSIH 2.0 Steering Committee members