DAP secretary-general Kerk Kim Hock will challenge all seven members of the Election Commission (EC) to justify their redelineation of the Kota Melaka parliamentary constituency, after his requests to meet with the commission's chairperson, Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman, were ignored.

Kerk said he will be visiting the commission's office in Putrajaya o­n Thursday or Friday to seek an appointment with the commission's members since Abdul Rashid had not responded to his earlier challenges.

"I will check when all seven members of the commission will be in the office and I will go there personally," he said when contacted.

Although initially optimistic of meeting with Abdul Rashid, the Kota Melaka member of Parliament said in a statement yesterday that his requests to meet with the EC chairperson have been ignored.

"I had, through public statements which were also faxed to Abdul Rashid, stated my preparedness to argue with him o­n the question of the constituency delineation exercise for the Kota Melaka parliamentary seat.

"Since Abdul Rashid has chosen to remain silent, I will...challenge all seven members of the EC to meet me and satisfactorily answer three main questions with regard to the delineation exercise."

DAP has issued challenges to the EC chairperson o­n Feb 24 and Feb 27 following a Sin Chew Daily report which quoted Abdul Rashid as saying that political parties and non-governmental organisations which had alleged that the commission had been biased towards the government could meet with him to argue their case.

Doubtful silence

Kerk said the commission's decision to keep mum in face of claims that it had been biased will be detrimental to its projected image of fairness and professionalism.

"Abdul Rashid's silence is most surprising and shocking as he knows well that there were allegations and criticisms over the EC's failure to adhere to the principle of democracy and the spirit of fairness. Hence his silence will certainly create more doubts," he said.

"There have been occasions when Abdul Rashid countered such accusations with general answers through the print media but his failure to (agree to a) face-to-face meeting with his critics will not dispel the allegations against the EC," Kerk added.

As for his questions for the EC's seven members, Kerk said that he would first seek clarification o­n the criteria and factors that were taken into account by the commission when it made alterations to its earlier proposal for redelineation of the Kota Melaka constituency.

The MP is also interested to know what objections were raised by the Melaka state government which led to the amendments by the commission.

The EC should also answer why it has decided not to hold a local inquiry in Kota Melaka despite the submission of a written objection countersigned by 113 registered voters in the area, he said.

No response

Meanwhile, attempts by malaysiakini over the last three days to contact Abdul Rashid and the commission's secretary Wan Ahmad Wan Omar proved unsuccessful.

Based o­n Section 5, Part II of the Federal Constitution, the commission is required to hold a local inquiry should there be written objections by at least 100 persons to its redelineation plans. The commission is also required to publicly display its proposals and undergo two rounds of adjustments based o­n public response.

The commission's original proposals were unveiled last August and following public feedback, it drew up fresh proposals that were displayed until mid-February for further feedback.

The finalised redelineation of the electoral boundaries, expected by the end of this month, will come into force in time for the next general election, due before November 2004.