Malaysia’s Election Commission went by the book on redrawing electoral map

The re-delineation of electoral boundaries is a fundamental process in any democratic nation. In fact, in Malaysia, the Electoral Commission (EC) has a constitutional duty, at least every eight to 10 years, to review and recommend changes, to ensure balance in voter populations between constituencies.

The last re-delineation exercise was carried out in 2003, almost 15 years ago.

In practice, the notion of “one man, one vote, one value” is not reasonable. In towns, people live in high-density apartment blocks, flats and terrace houses, while in rural areas, the population is sparse.

A district like Kapit in Sarawak is roughly the size of the state of Pahang, but the population is low and the area is fully forested. We cannot use an apple-to-apple comparison.

Each vote is secret, and the votes are given freely. A re-delineation does not make someone change his preference. If the people don’t like you, they won’t vote for you. It’s that simple.