Malaysians sadly do not enjoy EQUAL RIGHTS OF REPRESENTATION in Parliament.
Take
a look at selected parliamentary constituencies in Selangor. In Klang
(208,913 voters in 2022), Bangi (303,430), Kota Raja (244,712) and
Subang (230,940), the number of voters is several times more than a
string of previously Umno-held constituencies in the state. Look at the
much smaller number of voters in Kuala Selangor (102,951), Tanjong
Karang (62,194), Sungai Besar (64,382) and Sabak Bernam (51,609).
Should not the people in Klang or Bangi deserve to have 2 or 3 MPs in Parliament. There are 300,000 plus voters in Bangi, and just like Sabak Bernam.
For EQUAL REPRESENTATION in Parliament and/or Government, every Parliamentary Constituency must have almost equal number of voters - but in Malaysia, the problem nationwide is that some Constituencies are too large and some are too small.
This must be REMEDIED speedily.
WHY WAS THIS PROBLEM NOT REMEDIED SOONER?
Well, some say that during the time the UMNO-led Coalition(Alliance then BN) was ruling, the strategy was ensure more Parliamentary seats are won by then government parties, and reduce the number of seats won by the Opposition parties. Thus, where Opposition likely to win, the number of constituents were large. Even, if we look at maps of Constituencies, for some it is ODD as the borders look like there was 'tampering' to reduce number of Opposition MPs or attempts to try to change borders to give government parties better chances.
It must be noted that our Federal Constitution never provided for the number of MPs per State, and the Constitution has been amended several times over the years (See below this post the relevant Art. 46, and the Notes that tells us roughly this Article has been amended over the years.
In determining the Constituency Boundaries, several factors are mention in Thirteenth Schedule of the Federal Constitution, but today they may no longer be relevant considering the development in the country...especially things like..
...(b)
regard ought to be had to the administrative facilities available within
the constituencies for the establishment of the necessary registration
and polling machines;
(c) the number of electors within
each constituency in a State ought to be approximately equal except
that, having regard to the greater difficulty of reaching electors in
the country districts and the other disadvantages facing rural
constituencies, a measure of weightage for area ought to be given to
such constituencies;...
Anyway, the one point that is always there is that the number of electors in constituency must be equal or 'approximately equal'. When the PH government finally ousted the BN government and came into power after GE14 in 2018 - they could have dealt with this problem but they did not..
Will our Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and the PH-led coalition government deal with this issue and finally all all Malaysians EQUAL RIGHT OF REPRESENTATION in the Dewan Rakyat, the lower House of the Malaysian Parliament.
As it is, Malaysians are already being denied the right to elect Senators, Local Government(Council) peoples' representatives, ...and even their village, taman heads...All these need to be changed
46 Composition of House of Representatives
(1) The House of Representatives shall consist of two hundred and twenty-two elected members.
(2) There shall be—
(a) two hundred and nine members from the States in Malaysia as follows:
(i) twenty-six members from Johore;
(ii) fifteen members from Kedah;
(iii) fourteen members from Kelantan;
(iv) six members from Malacca;
(v) eight members from Negeri Sembilan;
(vi) fourteen members from Pahang;
(vii) thirteen members from Penang;
(viii) twenty-four members from Perak;
(ix) three members from Perlis;
(x) twenty-five members from Sabah;
(xi) thirty-one members from Sarawak;
(xii) twenty-two members from Selangor; and
(xiii) eight members from Terengganu; and
(b) thirteen members from the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya as follows:
(i) eleven members from the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur;
(ii) one member from the Federal Territory of Labuan;
(iii) one member from the Federal Territory of Putrajaya.
NOTES
Art. 46
1. This Article as it stood on Merdeka Day read as follows:
"46.
(1) The House of Representatives shall consist of one hundred elected
members except that the first House of Representatives shall consist of
one hundred and four.
(2) After the completion of the first census
to be taken after Merdeka Day Parliament may by law alter the number of
members of the House of Representatives.".
2. This
Article was amended by Act 14/1962, section 14, in force from
21-06-1962, by substituting "one hundred and four elected members" for
"one hundred elected members except that the first House of
Representatives shall consist of one hundred and four" in Clause (1),
and repealed Clause (2).
3. This Article was substituted by Act 26/1963, section 9, in force from 16-09-1963, which read as follows:
"46. (1) The House of Representatives shall consist of one hundred and fifty-nine elected members.
(2) There shall be—
(a) one hundred and four members from the States of Malaya;
(b) sixteen members from Sabah;
(c) twenty-four members from Sarawak;
(d) fifteen members from Singapore.".
4.
This Article was amended by Act 59/1966, section 2, in force from
09-08-1965, by substituting "forty-four" for "fifty-nine" in Clause (1)
and deleted paragraph (d) of Clause (2).
5. This Article
was again amended by Act A206, section 12, in force from 23-08-1973, by
the substitution of the whole Article which read as follows:
"46. (1) The House of Representatives shall consist of one hundred and fifty-four elected members.
(2) There shall be—
(a) one hundred and forty-nine members from the States in Malaysia as follows:
(i) sixteen members from Johore;
(ii) thirteen members from Kedah;
(iii) twelve members from Kelantan;
(iv) four members from Malacca;
(v) six members from Negeri Sembilan;
(vi) eight members from Pahang;
(vii) nine members from Penang;
(viii) twenty-one members from Perak;
(xi) two members from Perlis;
(x) sixteen members from Sabah;
(xi) twenty-four members from Sarawak;
(xii) eleven members from Selangor;
(xiii) seven members from Terengganu; and
(b) five members from the Federal Territory.".
6.
The present Article was substituted by Act A566, section 5, in force
from 16-12-1983. However, the substitution shall not affect the
composition of the House of Representatives or any elections to that
House until the dissolution of Parliament occurring on or after
31-12-1984—See P.U. (A) 475 and 476/1984.
Clause (1)
Amended by Act A585, paragraph 14(a), in force from 16-04-1984, by substituting the words "seventy-seven" for "seventy-six".
Clause (2)
Amended by Act A585, paragraph 14(b), in force from 16-04-1984, by substituting for paragraph (b) the following new paragraph (b):
“(b) eight members from the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Labuan as follows—
(i) seven members from the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur;
(ii) one member from the Federal Territory of Labuan.".
Clause (1)
Amended by Act A631, section 2, in force from 24-02-1986, by substituting the word "eighty" for "seventy-seven".
Clause (2)
Amended by Act A631, section 2, in force from 24-02-1986, by substituting the word "seventy-two" for "sixty-nine" in paragraph (a) and the word "twenty-seven" for "twenty-four" in subparagraph (xi) of paragraph (a).
Note:
This
Article, as amended, shall not affect the composition of the House of
Representatives or any election to that House until the dissolution of
Parliament—See Art. 57(1A).
Clause (1)
Amended by Act A837, section 2, in force from 20-11-1992, by substituting the word "ninety-two" for "eighty".
Clause (2)
Amended by Act A837, section 2, in force from 20-11-1992—
(i) by substituting the word "eighty-one" for "seventy-two" in paragraph (a);
(ii) by substituting the word "twenty" for "eighteen" in subparagraph (a)(i);
(iii) by substituting the word "fifteen" for "fourteen" in subparagraph (a)(ii);
(iv) by substituting the word "fourteen" for "thirteen" in subparagraph (a)(iii);
(v) by substituting the word "eleven" for "ten" in subparagraph (a)(vi);
(vi) by substituting the word "three" for "two" in subparagraph (a)(ix);
(vii) by substituting the word "seventeen" for "fourteen" in subparagraph (a)(xii);
(viii) by substituting the word "eleven" for "eight" in paragraph (b); and
(ix) by substituting the word "ten" for "seven" in subparagraph (b)(i).
Note:
The
above amendments shall not affect the composition of the House of
Representatives or any election to that House until dissolution of
Parliament occurring on or after the date of the coming into force of
the Order made under section 12 of the Thirteenth Schedule—See section 4 of Act A837.
Clause (1)
This clause was again amended by Act A945, paragraph 2(a),
in force from 07-06-1996, to increase the composition of the House of
Representatives from one hundred and ninety-two to one hundred and
ninety-three, i.e. specifically increasing the composition of the
members from the State of Sarawak from twenty-seven to twenty-eight.
Clause (2)
Amended by Act A945, paragraph 2(b), in force from 07-06-1996—
(i) by substituting the word "eighty-two" for "eighty-one" in paragraph (a); and
(ii) by substituting the word "twenty-eight" for "twenty-seven" in subparagraph (a)(xi).
Note:
However
this amendment shall not affect the composition of the House of
Representatives or any election to that House until the dissolution of
Parliament occurring on or after the date of the coming into force of
the Order made under section 12 of the Thirteenth Schedule to the
Federal Constitution following the review undertaken pursuant to Clause
(2) of Article 113 of the Federal Constitution and the said Thirteenth
Schedule. Clause (1) Amended by Act A1095, paragraph 16(a), in force from 01-02-2001, by substituting the word "ninety-four" for "ninety-three".
Clause (2)
Amended by Act A1095, paragraph 16(b),
in force from 01-02-2001, to enable one member of the House of
Representatives to be elected to represent the Federal Territory of
Putrajaya.
Clause (1)
Amended by Act A1198, paragraph 2(a), in force from 15-08-2003, by substituting the words "two hundred and nineteen" for "one hundred and ninety-four".
Clause (2)
Amended by Act A1198, paragraph 2(b),
in force 15-08-2003, by increasing the number of members of the House
of Representatives consequent upon the delimitation of the
constituencies undertaken by the Election Commission from 8 August 2002
until 7 September 2002. The increase is as follows:
(a) six members from Johore;
(b) one member from Malacca;
(c) one member from Negeri Sembilan;
(d) three members from Pahang;
(e) two members from Penang;
(f) one member from Perak;
(g) five members from Sabah;
(h) five members from Selangor; and
(i) one member from the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur.
Clause (1)
Amended by Act A1260, paragraph 2(a), in force from 19-01-2006, by substituting the words "two hundred and twenty-two" for "two hundred and nineteen".
Clause (2)
Amended by Act A1260, paragraph 2(b),
in force from 19-01-2006, to increase the composition of the House of
Representatives from two hundred and six to two hundred and nine, i.e.
specifically increasing the composition of the members from the State of
Sarawak from twenty-eight to thirty-one.
...(b) regard ought to be had to the administrative facilities available within the constituencies for the establishment of the necessary registration and polling machines;
(c) the number of electors within each constituency in a State ought to be approximately equal except that, having regard to the greater difficulty of reaching electors in the country districts and the other disadvantages facing rural constituencies, a measure of weightage for area ought to be given to such constituencies;...
(a) two hundred and nine members from the States in Malaysia as follows:
(i) twenty-six members from Johore;
(ii) fifteen members from Kedah;
(iii) fourteen members from Kelantan;
(iv) six members from Malacca;
(v) eight members from Negeri Sembilan;
(vi) fourteen members from Pahang;
(vii) thirteen members from Penang;
(viii) twenty-four members from Perak;
(ix) three members from Perlis;
(x) twenty-five members from Sabah;
(xi) thirty-one members from Sarawak;
(xii) twenty-two members from Selangor; and
(xiii) eight members from Terengganu; and
(b) thirteen members from the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya as follows:
(i) eleven members from the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur;
(ii) one member from the Federal Territory of Labuan;
(iii) one member from the Federal Territory of Putrajaya.
1. This Article as it stood on Merdeka Day read as follows:
"46. (1) The House of Representatives shall consist of one hundred elected members except that the first House of Representatives shall consist of one hundred and four.
(2) After the completion of the first census to be taken after Merdeka Day Parliament may by law alter the number of members of the House of Representatives.".
2. This Article was amended by Act 14/1962, section 14, in force from 21-06-1962, by substituting "one hundred and four elected members" for "one hundred elected members except that the first House of Representatives shall consist of one hundred and four" in Clause (1), and repealed Clause (2).
3. This Article was substituted by Act 26/1963, section 9, in force from 16-09-1963, which read as follows:
"46. (1) The House of Representatives shall consist of one hundred and fifty-nine elected members.
(2) There shall be—
(a) one hundred and four members from the States of Malaya;
(b) sixteen members from Sabah;
(c) twenty-four members from Sarawak;
(d) fifteen members from Singapore.".
4. This Article was amended by Act 59/1966, section 2, in force from 09-08-1965, by substituting "forty-four" for "fifty-nine" in Clause (1) and deleted paragraph (d) of Clause (2).
5. This Article was again amended by Act A206, section 12, in force from 23-08-1973, by the substitution of the whole Article which read as follows:
"46. (1) The House of Representatives shall consist of one hundred and fifty-four elected members.
(2) There shall be—
(a) one hundred and forty-nine members from the States in Malaysia as follows:
(i) sixteen members from Johore;
(ii) thirteen members from Kedah;
(iii) twelve members from Kelantan;
(iv) four members from Malacca;
(v) six members from Negeri Sembilan;
(vi) eight members from Pahang;
(vii) nine members from Penang;
(viii) twenty-one members from Perak;
(xi) two members from Perlis;
(x) sixteen members from Sabah;
(xi) twenty-four members from Sarawak;
(xii) eleven members from Selangor;
(xiii) seven members from Terengganu; and
(b) five members from the Federal Territory.".
6. The present Article was substituted by Act A566, section 5, in force from 16-12-1983. However, the substitution shall not affect the composition of the House of Representatives or any elections to that House until the dissolution of Parliament occurring on or after 31-12-1984—See P.U. (A) 475 and 476/1984.
Clause (1)
Amended by Act A585, paragraph 14(a), in force from 16-04-1984, by substituting the words "seventy-seven" for "seventy-six".
Clause (2)
Amended by Act A585, paragraph 14(b), in force from 16-04-1984, by substituting for paragraph (b) the following new paragraph (b):
“(b) eight members from the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Labuan as follows—
(i) seven members from the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur;
(ii) one member from the Federal Territory of Labuan.".
Clause (1)
Amended by Act A631, section 2, in force from 24-02-1986, by substituting the word "eighty" for "seventy-seven".
Clause (2)
Amended by Act A631, section 2, in force from 24-02-1986, by substituting the word "seventy-two" for "sixty-nine" in paragraph (a) and the word "twenty-seven" for "twenty-four" in subparagraph (xi) of paragraph (a).
Note:
This Article, as amended, shall not affect the composition of the House of Representatives or any election to that House until the dissolution of Parliament—See Art. 57(1A).
Clause (1)
Amended by Act A837, section 2, in force from 20-11-1992, by substituting the word "ninety-two" for "eighty".
Clause (2)
Amended by Act A837, section 2, in force from 20-11-1992—
(i) by substituting the word "eighty-one" for "seventy-two" in paragraph (a);
(ii) by substituting the word "twenty" for "eighteen" in subparagraph (a)(i);
(iii) by substituting the word "fifteen" for "fourteen" in subparagraph (a)(ii);
(iv) by substituting the word "fourteen" for "thirteen" in subparagraph (a)(iii);
(v) by substituting the word "eleven" for "ten" in subparagraph (a)(vi);
(vi) by substituting the word "three" for "two" in subparagraph (a)(ix);
(vii) by substituting the word "seventeen" for "fourteen" in subparagraph (a)(xii);
(viii) by substituting the word "eleven" for "eight" in paragraph (b); and
(ix) by substituting the word "ten" for "seven" in subparagraph (b)(i).
Note:
The above amendments shall not affect the composition of the House of Representatives or any election to that House until dissolution of Parliament occurring on or after the date of the coming into force of the Order made under section 12 of the Thirteenth Schedule—See section 4 of Act A837.
Clause (1)
This clause was again amended by Act A945, paragraph 2(a), in force from 07-06-1996, to increase the composition of the House of Representatives from one hundred and ninety-two to one hundred and ninety-three, i.e. specifically increasing the composition of the members from the State of Sarawak from twenty-seven to twenty-eight.
Clause (2)
Amended by Act A945, paragraph 2(b), in force from 07-06-1996—
(i) by substituting the word "eighty-two" for "eighty-one" in paragraph (a); and
(ii) by substituting the word "twenty-eight" for "twenty-seven" in subparagraph (a)(xi).
Note:
However this amendment shall not affect the composition of the House of Representatives or any election to that House until the dissolution of Parliament occurring on or after the date of the coming into force of the Order made under section 12 of the Thirteenth Schedule to the Federal Constitution following the review undertaken pursuant to Clause (2) of Article 113 of the Federal Constitution and the said Thirteenth Schedule. Clause (1) Amended by Act A1095, paragraph 16(a), in force from 01-02-2001, by substituting the word "ninety-four" for "ninety-three".
Clause (2)
Amended by Act A1095, paragraph 16(b), in force from 01-02-2001, to enable one member of the House of Representatives to be elected to represent the Federal Territory of Putrajaya.
Clause (1)
Amended by Act A1198, paragraph 2(a), in force from 15-08-2003, by substituting the words "two hundred and nineteen" for "one hundred and ninety-four".
Clause (2)
Amended by Act A1198, paragraph 2(b), in force 15-08-2003, by increasing the number of members of the House of Representatives consequent upon the delimitation of the constituencies undertaken by the Election Commission from 8 August 2002 until 7 September 2002. The increase is as follows:
(a) six members from Johore;
(b) one member from Malacca;
(c) one member from Negeri Sembilan;
(d) three members from Pahang;
(e) two members from Penang;
(f) one member from Perak;
(g) five members from Sabah;
(h) five members from Selangor; and
(i) one member from the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur.
Clause (1)
Amended by Act A1260, paragraph 2(a), in force from 19-01-2006, by substituting the words "two hundred and twenty-two" for "two hundred and nineteen".
Clause (2)
Amended by Act A1260, paragraph 2(b), in force from 19-01-2006, to increase the composition of the House of Representatives from two hundred and six to two hundred and nine, i.e. specifically increasing the composition of the members from the State of Sarawak from twenty-eight to thirty-one.
Anwar, the clock is ticking! Where are the reforms?
One key issue is the lopsided weighting of parliamentary constituencies
By Sarujun Hoda Abdul Hassan
The recently elected chairman of Bersih, Faisal Aziz, and his steering committee members, must be congratulated for bringing the coalition back on track to its core business.
The key objective of the electoral reform group is to correct the lopsided and overly manipulated electoral process, which appears to blatantly favour one ethnicity and the government in power.
Every time constituency boundaries are redrawn, many opposition constituencies appear to be overly conflated with boundaries drawn along ethnic lines. Meanwhile, government-held constituencies favouring a certain ethnicity seem to be kept small for easy wins.
The malapportionment of votes is often staggering.
The Election Commission rarely entertained objections from affected voters – another major flaw in its approach.
Look at the shape of the Klang constituency, for instance. It looks like a thin elongated grasshopper-like insect. One cannot help but wonder if this was done maliciously.
The Election Commission had no shame nor qualms in undertaking such an absurd exercise – to please its political masters?
Take a look at selected parliamentary constituencies in Selangor. In Klang (208,913 voters in 2022), Bangi (303,430), Kota Raja (244,712) and Subang (230,940), the number of voters is several times more than a string of previously Umno-held constituencies in the state. Look at the much smaller number of voters in Kuala Selangor (102,951), Tanjong Karang (62,194), Sungai Besar (64,382) and Sabak Bernam (51,609).
The value of one vote in some of these smaller constituencies is equivalent to four to eight votes in the larger seats.
Still, the lopsided weighting didn’t work for Barisan Nasional the last time around. Voters, shocked by Najib Razak’s corruption and his 1MDB grand thefts, shifted their support in a big way to the other ethnic and religious party, Pas, which is part of Perikatan Nasional. PN found these seats delivered to them on a silver platter and quickly gobbled up most of them.
If the “Madani” (civil and compassionate) government does not correct this lopsided weighting before the next general election, it is a foregone conclusion that PN will reap the advantage and possibly form the next federal government.
It all hinges on whether the electoral boundaries will be redrawn to redress the acute gerrymandering and malapportionment, to remove phantom voters and to eliminate any postal votes fraud.
Still, this was the first time a prime minister agreed to meet with the Bersih steering committee and listen to their desired reforms.
The Bersih team highlighted the need for clean, free and fair elections and the institutional reforms to strengthen democracy and good governance.
Bersih reminded the PM about the public disgust over several cases where prominent politicians from a party within the “unity government” were given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal. Imagine, these elite politicians had been charged with corruption – the very plague the PM wants to eradicate as his priority.
Bersih is also pushing for an immediate moratorium on similar conditional acquittals in existing corruption cases.
Many among the public were also appalled at the fast-tracking of the Pardons Boards hearing for the unrepented and unremorseful Najib. Even more unacceptable was the 76% reduction in his fine and the 50% reduction in the duration of his prison sentence.
Few are convinced Anwar was helpless, if not instrumental, in this atrocious lapse of judgement. All this happened while many ordinary people suffer heavier sentences for far lesser crimes and while far more deserving cases never reach the board or take much longer.
Bersih also renewed calls for the full repeal of the Sedition Act. The electoral reforms group wants reforms to the process of appointments of election commissioners.
Among its demands is the call for the declassification and release of the recommendations in the report on institutional reforms.
Another reform demand is a more effective Election Offences Act and a political funding act.
Bersih insists on the separation of the powers and functions of attorney general and public prosecutor.
Included in the Bersih agenda is the call for a parliamentary services bill and reforms to the rules of parliamentary conduct. The group also wants a fixed parliamentary term law and a two-term limit to the PM’s tenure.
It’s about time the government fulfils 100% its manifesto promises and provides full autonomy to Parliament. - Aliran Website
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