The remarks of a PAS central committee member to gerrymander electoral boundaries according to race and religion, hurts efforts for a fair re-delineation process which is due this year, said Bersih chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah.

 

Maria said the comment on an internal PAS Whatsapp group by Mohd Zuhdi Marzuki which was leaked online, essentially endorsed Umno's and Election Commission’s (EC) stance against the concept of "one person one vote" which Bersih has struggled for.

 

"You are agreeing with Umno to steal the election.... Some Umno members and even the EC chairperson have said there should not be one person one vote. 

 

"You are agreeing with them that the re-delineation must be based on race," she told  Malaysiakini  when contacted. 

 

In the message, Mohd Zuhdi ( right ), who is also PAS research centre operations director, suggested that with a PAS and Umno union in Selangor, electoral boundaries can be altered during the re-delineation process later this year to favour Malay and Muslim voters.

 

Maria said such a re-delineation method reflected a power play by PAS to gain more seats along racial and religious lines at the expense of genuine issues faced by the rakyat in Selangor.

 

"Local issues like the Kinrara Damansara Expressway (Kidex), local council elections and water crisis will be pushed aside and not brought to the fore.

"They ignore the fact that the voters want to know what their policies are especially.

 

"Is PAS only concerned about the Malay Muslim factor and their election call after all was just a farce to gain power?" she questioned.

 

Three principles

She said this also went against Schedule 13 of the Federal Constitution which outlined three principles for re-delineation, namely convenience to vote, proximity to administrative facilities and equally sized constituencies with the exception with the provision for a measure of weightage for rural constituencies.

 

She added that it will also have a bearing on race relations in the state.

 

Maria reminded PAS that it was Umno's method of re-delineation which ensures the opposition, including PAS, is relegated to be the perpetual federal opposition.

 

She pointed out in the worst example of gerrymandering, the 1986 general election showed PAS needed 40 votes in order to match a single vote of Umno's in its constituencies.

 

"It is very disappointing that PAS, after including "PAS for all" in its election manifesto, is now backtracking on this principle," she said.

 

Maria said on top of addressing PAS' position in Pakatan and the racial undertones, the Islamist top party leadership must also come clean on the electoral gerrymandering that was suggested in Mohd Zuhdi's message.