Although the Election Commission’s (EC) redelineation proposal is seen as unfavourable to the opposition, PKR vice-president Tian Chua said the opposition will eventually adapt and overcome this hurdle.

The opposition parties had already done so before, he said, having suffered a setback in the 2004 general election that was held after the 2003 redelineation exercise.

Chua said the opposition went on to make a comeback in the milestone 2008 general election.

Even so, he warned that there would be long-term consequences that Malaysians would have to live with, as BN tries to buy time and remain in power.

“The issue is not the competition between the opposition and the ruling party. The issue is how do we create an electoral representation system that reflects the spirit of the constitution and of Malaysia.

“The question now is that BN may use this in trying to defeat the opposition now, but the consequence of it - even when the opposition eventually wins - we are going to see a very polarised Malaysia.

“This is why all my colleagues have said it is not about whether we can win or not.

"We can work hard to win, but the point is, then what kind of Malaysia are we going to see?" said Chua at a press conference today at the PKR headquarters.

“We are going to see a political landscape like Lebanon, where all political parties come into parliament based on a very polarised viewpoint, because that is the only way for them to win in seats that are so predominantly represented by certain ethnic groups.

“That is certainly not good for Malaysia,” he said.

Mixed seats

Following the Reformasi movement, many Malay voters had turned against the government in the 1999 general election, he added.

In the redelineation exercise afterwards in 2003, many Malay-majority seats were turned into mixed seats, and indeed the opposition was nearly wiped out in the general election in the following year.

BN managed to garner 198 out of 219 seats in that election, compared to 148 out of 193 seats in 1999.

By 2008 however, BN’s wins shrank to just 140 out of 222 seats, and this shrank further in the 2013 general election.

On Sept 15, the EC had officially given notice for a new round of the redelineation exercise for Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah, while Sarawak had completed its redelineation exercise last year.

The EC's proposal would see the boundaries of 128 parliamentary constituencies redrawn, while 12 parliamentary seats and 36 state seats would have its names changed.

The public viewing and objection period lasts one month from the date of the notice.