There is no need to amend the existing election system, a Barisan Nasional (BN) parliamentarian told the Dewan Rakyat today.

"Why do we need to amend or change it, the system has proven to be a success since the 1950s," Mahadzir Mohd Khir (BN-Sungai Petani) said when debating on the motion of thanks on the royal address.

He said elections in the country are done according to the propositional representation system.

"BN, the ruling party, has representatives of all races. We have Chinese, Indians, Ibans and many more. All races are well represented," he added.

He said the Election Commission is a royal body that plays the role of a neutral referee and if there are any weaknesses in its implementations, these can be brought to court.

However, Abdul Fatah Harun (PAS-Rantau Panjang) disagreed.

The opposition MP asked Mahadzir's opinion on EC chairperson Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman's comment that EC's current rules and regulations are outdated and has many loopholes, requiring an amendment.

To this, Mahadzir said: "It's just his suggestion, he can say anything he wants but it is not necessary that his opinion matches that of everyone.

"So far our elections have been smooth," added the BN MP.

Why use ink?

At this juncture, Teresa Kok (DAP- Seputeh) asked Mahadzir to clarify his statement that the country is following the proportional representation system.

She said in the previous general election, BN hauled 60 percent of the votes whereas the opposition only managed to get 30 percent.

"In this Parliament, there is only 8.5 percent representation from the opposition. Do you call this proportionate?" she asked.

Mahadzir replied that he was referring to propositional representation according to states.

"PAS won in Kelantan thus they formed their own state government, whereas for the federal government, BN won more seats compared to the opposition, thus we formed the ruling government," he said.

Kok also asked if a more just election system can be achieved by using indelible ink during the voting process, but Mahadzir ruled this out.

"What is the use of the electoral rolls if we want to use ink?" asked the BN MP.

"In India, they use ink because they don't have electoral rolls, but that's not the case in Malaysia," he said.