Electoral Boundary Commission among ERC’s recommendations to Perikatan

KUALA LUMPUR – To address accusations of gerrymandering and unfair delineation practices, the Electoral Reform Committee (ERC) has recommended the formation of the Electoral Boundary Commission.

ERC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman told The Vibes that this is one of the recommendations given to the Perikatan Nasional government to review.

The delineation of seats is currently handled by the Election Commission (EC).

“We recommend another body being formed – the Electoral Boundary Commission (Suruhanjaya Persempadanan Semula). It will be a completely different body,” said Rashid, who was once the longest-serving EC chairman.

“We have to take away that responsibility from the EC because it has been accused of gerrymandering and having carried out delineations unfairly.”

Among the ERC’s recommendations is that the EC should have some of its duties and responsibilities handed over to new bodies, he said.

He said this is due to the extra responsibilities that the EC has to shoulder, should the committee’s recommendations be accepted and implemented by the PN administration.

“Now, in the next election, if Parliament and the government agree, the EC will take over the functions of the Registrar of Societies as far as political parties are concerned – including registration and audit. There is a lot of work there.

“They (the EC) will audit, supervise and see to it that the parties are run properly – with no hanky-panky going on.

“And, political funding should be controlled – proper laws governing political funding will be created, and the EC will monitor what kind of donation a party can accept, how it is spent and so on. All these recommendations require proper auditing.

“If accepted, the EC will have a bigger workload and more responsibilities, hence, it should be split into three.”

The 81-year-old said the commission should have a separate branch called Election Malaysia (EM) focusing on the conduct of election campaigns, while policy matters will remain under the purview of the main EC body.

Once Parliament, a state assembly or a seat is dissolved, he said, EM’s duties will be to set up nomination dates, the campaign period, early voting dates, postal voting dates and polling dates, as well as manage the polls at the operational level.

EM will also handle the electoral roll and update its database.

On December 14, Law Minister Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan told the Dewan Rakyat that the government will have a special committee study the 49 recommendations submitted by the ERC.

He said the special committee, made up of cabinet members, will be headed by International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali.

“The government needs time to evaluate, and get views and feedback from several agencies such as the EC.”

On August 27, the ERC handed its 49 recommendations to Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in Parliament, after two years of survey and study. – The Vibes, December 25, 2020

This is Part 1 of  a two-part series based on interviews with ERC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman