The Election Commission should furnish details of how it arrived at a decision to redelineate certain areas, a lawyer told the Court of Appeal today.

Malik Imtiaz Sarwar said at present, the exercise resulted in some constituencies having bigger number of voters, with some even seeing a ten-fold increase.

This is despite the Federal Constitution stating that the electoral body should ensure there is at least an equal number of voters in each constituency, he pointed out.

 

“We do not know why this is done as seen in some constituencies in the present redelineation exercise,” said Malik.

He said that the EC should be asked to disclose how it arrived at a decision for redelineation, in order to ensure good governance, which would help to ensure free and fair elections.

He said citizens, especially voters, have the participatory right to obtain the information as to how the redelineation is done.

“There should be freedom of information and right to information as to how the EC arrives at such a decision. At present, those information is not available, especially in the EC's website and the information given relates to a particular constituency but not all constituencies.

“If we look at the appellant (Haris Fathillah Ibrahim) who is a voter in the Bukit Gasing state seat under the Petaling Jaya Selatan Parliament seat, he can only get information regarding his constituency during the protest period of 30 days.

"If he wants to get information on other constituencies, he has to go to the particular constituency to check,” said Malik.

He added that Haris had the right to get information on other constituencies based on a Canadian case law which provides freedom of information.

The Canadian case law cites a charter similar to Article 10 (1) of Malaysia's Federal Constitution regarding freedom of expression, he said.

“Information is something which the EC by law cannot choose not to disclose. The question is important and vital as the EC must enjoy public confidence.

“The fact that there is a lot of filing of objections until today, which is the last day (for objections) shows that such confidence in the EC is not there,” he told a three-member bench.

Haris is appealing against the Kuala Lumpur High Court's decision to dismiss his judicial review application requiring EC to furnish details of each constituency.

Malik further submitted that the appeal is not academic and the case would be beneficial as the EC will conduct more redelineation exercises in the future.

'Haris has no legal standing'

However, senior federal counsel Suzana Atan told the three-member bench that Haris had no locus standi (legal standing) to seek declaration for information on all constituencies.

“He is only limited to his constituency of Petaling Jaya Selatan, and also the state constituency of Bukit Gasing and not others.

“To file an objection, a person must be a voter of a particular constituency. He is only entitled to file a complaint to his particular constituency,” she said.

Suzana also said that the EC's duty is to hold elections and conduct redelineation, and not to provide the information that Haris wanted.

“The right to information is not applicable here as Malaysia does not have the law regarding the right to information,” she said.

Malik in reply said at present there is no possible way to know how the lines of a constituency are drawn.

He said a democratic country like Malaysia should move forward, and citizens, as legitimate voters, should not be left defenceless and deprived of information from the EC.

The bench led by Court of Appeal judge Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat said they would reserve judgment to another date.

The other two judges who heard Haris' appeal were Justice Ahmadi Asnawi and Justice Zamani A Rahim.