Instead of Malaysians having to emigrate or move into jungles, Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming has suggested that Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Tanjong Karang MP Noh Omar take a “study break” abroad instead.

The duo, he said, should do so so that they may better understand the “one-man-one-vote”, or the “single transferable vote” electoral system.

NONE “Rather than suggesting that loyal and patriotic Malaysians who want genuine electoral reform to leave the country or to live in the jungle, I strongly recommend that the Home Minister and the MP for Tanjong Karang take a one-week study leave abroad in order to understand how other countries which practice the first-past-the-post electoral system follows the one-man-one-vote principle,” Ong ( left ) said in a statement today.

The DAP election strategist was responding to separate statements made by the two BN leaders, unhappy by criticism and gatherings protesting the May 5 national polls results, which saw BN forming the federal government despite Pakatan Rakyat bagging 51.78 percent of the popular votes.

Just day one into his new role as Home Minister, Zahid, in an editorial piece in Utusan Malaysia , said the opposition, and those clamouring for the single transferable vote “should migrate to those countries to practise this kind of political belief”.

While his statement garnered much criticism from various quarters, Noh came to his defence, telling the same group to go “live in the forest ”.

'Check the PSC'

Ong cited examples of countries which practices the first-past-the-post electoral system and which also closely controls the deviation percentage in the number of voters per constituency, such as the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada.       

“Indeed, if the Home minister had done his research, he would have realised that the United Kingdom passed a Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act in 2011 which specified that the maximum deviation in the number of voters per constituency can only be 5 percent.

“Instead, what we have now in Malaysia is a ‘bastardised’ form of the first-past-the-post electoral system where the largest constituency – Kapar (144,369 voters in GE13) – has nine times the number of voters of the smallest constituency – Putrajaya (15,798 voters in GE13),” the statement reads.

NONE Furthermore, Ong advised Zahid and Noh ( right ) to read the report submitted by Malaysia’s own parliamentary select committee (PSC) on electoral reforms.

“If the Home Minister and the MP of Tanjong Karang had paid close attention to the PSC’s report, they would have realised that their own colleagues from BN including three current MPs – Dr Maximus Ongkili (Kota Marudu), Alexander Nanta Linggi (Kapit) and P Kamalanathan (Hulu Selangor) – also agreed that there should be review of Malaysia’s electoral system including the fulfilment of the ‘One-Man, One-Vote’ principle and to study the possibility of implementing a more proportionate electoral system.

“Will the two honorable gentlemen also ask their colleagues from BN to migrate to another country or to move to the jungle?”

Ong said that should the duo prove to be “too busy” to embark on the suggested one-week study leave, he would be “more than happy” to sit down with them for an hour.

He said this is so he may brief them on the how other democratic countries redraw boundary lines to reduce the disparity in the number of voters per seat.

NONE