VOXPOP 'The proportional system is not BN-friendly. EC won't put it in place as the better informed urban voters will herald in a quicker end to BN rule.'

EC not keen on proportional representation system

vox populi small thumbnail SS Dhaliwal: We understand the first past the post (FPTP) system is better for Umno only as it can easily lure the less educated and fortunate people with schemes like BR1M and practicing divisional politics to win them over, in addition to vote buying and including phantom voters in the electoral roll.

Agreed that in any system there will be inherent flaws, but how on earth did the EC deputy Wan Ahmad Wan Omar see so many alleged weaknesses in the proportional system and yet not see the blatant unfairness of the current system?

No matter what the system is, the majority of Malaysians support the opposition irrespective of the candidate in most cases, as they are quite fed up with BN. However FTPT, which supports the EC's gerrymandering tactics, are well known and are in favour of BN.

I bet those 71 countries the EC deputy is referring to are mostly third world countries that we should not be comparing ourselves to. What is needed a fully independent commission with members who are scandal free and with integrity to propose a new system that all must be abide by.

Hplooi: It's clear as daylight. Proportionality and fairness are not on the table. Stonewalling (as per pre-GE13) will be the order of the day until the next GE.

In the meantime more devious means will be deployed to defraud the Malaysian voters for the next GE.

Rick teo: As long as the FPTP system is retained, no matter how many percentages the opposition obtains, BN and Umno will continue to govern Malaysia. They will continue to defraud the Malaysian public.

Bamboo: The proportional system will neutralise a big part played by the gerrymandering to ensure a BN win. It is not BN-friendly. The EC won't put it in place, as the better-informed urban voters will herald in a quicker end to BN rule.

Bash: FPTP may be good but as usual, poor implementation or an 'unclean' electoral gives BN a seriously lopsided advantage which isn't a clear representation of the people's wishes.

In addition, gerrymandering has made things worse - as an MP represents real people and not land size, in all fairness, every constituent must have roughly equal representation in Parliament.

Appum: No matter what system we follow, it makes no difference as long as we have inefficient administrators and puppets of Umno operating the system.

If this system or any system is run by people like Bersih cochairperson S Ambiga, I am sure there will be fair and clean elections on the ground. Also look at the management of the electoral boundaries, which are termed as gerrymandering, and not proportionately distributed.

Paul Warren: It was this same man who told the audience at the Bar Council's forum shortly after GE12 that the EC was going to go to New Zealand to study their mixed member proportional system that seems to work there.

Why even suggest going to New Zealand if you have already rejected proportional representation? Unless it's for a paid holiday?

But Wan Ahmad is being a little mischievous here. In New Zealand there is both constitutional representation as in FPTP as well as proportional representatives.

Under FPTP it is generally the loudmouths and the gangsters amongst them who often get selected to be candidates. You want to see their IQs? You just need to attend Parliament.

They are such an embarrassment when you consider the rhetoric and nonsense they produce. But with mixed member proportional representation (MMP), quiet and reticent intellectuals can get into Parliament as well as the cabinet without being loudmouth gangsters.

Also parties will now need to be true to their own philosophies, policies and manifestos.

Interested bystander: Since the EC backs Umno of course they aren't keen on a proportional system.

CiViC: To rule the country, one just has to control two parties: the Attorney General Chambers and the Election Commission.

CiViC: Find someone who is really competent to run the EC, then only talk about which is better.

EC mulls new voter registration law

Visu: "The changes, he said, will allow the EC more room to clean up the electoral roll as well as provide for prosecution for those who attempt to defraud the roll."

The EC did not even attempt to clean up the electoral roll even after so many cases were presented to them before the last GE. The problem is there are no individuals or opposition parties that are trying to defraud the electoral roll.

It is Umno and its crony bureaucrats who are doing so. Evidence is so clear from the Sabah RCI. Even the best system will fail if the people behind the implementation are biased and have vested interests.

The entire government of Malaysia and the bureaucracy is aligned to Umno and subscribe to the concept of Ketuanan Melayu.

As long as Umno and it bureaucratic cronies toe this line, even the best of systems are bound to fail. The rakyat that wants peace and harmony should remember this.

Alternative actions are frightening but the eventual result of a bad government is even more frightening.

James1067: The electoral roll has to be cleaned and it is the work of Bersih and the 89 opposition MPs to correct this fiasco with the help of the public. The future of this country must lie in the hands of Malaysians and not foreigners. Sabah is a good example where traitors have sold our rights.

The peninsula may be next as the agenda of the 1.4 million Bangladeshis is vague. Especially when a financial crisis looms around our shores and thousands of Malaysians are jobless.

We have to clean up the electoral roll and let Malaysians decide their destiny and chart their course for their future.

Isana: This guy is an Umno member and his job is to make sure Umno/BN stays in power. All the above suggestions are to prepare for GE14 and engineer another Umno/BN victory.

After the last GE, EC and its master Umno know that if nothing is done, they will lose power in the next GE. So expect more gerrymandering, more advance voters, instant Malaysians and more Felda based constituencies.

SS Dhaliwal: Any loophole that favours the opposition will be plugged while new loopholes in favour of BN, allowing them to cheat, will be implemented and enforced by EC.

What is most important is to repeal the unconstitutional Section 9A law, which allows EC and NRD to include phantom voters, and illegal foreigners who cannot be questioned by the courts once they are in the electoral roll.

Nil: OK; come out with the full details for public scrutiny and debate... No curi ayam (sneaky moves).

OMG!!: Meaning what? Clean up the electoral roll of those who voted for the opposition?

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