How many Malaysians does it take to change the future of elections?
(TMI) – All of 100,000 Malaysians. That is the number that is needed to fight the next major battle for Malaysia’s political future that looms next month.
For at the next parliamentary sitting, the Election Commission (EC) will table a draft of the country’s new electoral boundaries. If passed, it will determine the fate of all future general elections for the next 10 years.
But instead of taking to the streets and getting tear-gassed, the next fight for electoral reform will need 100,000 people to sign their names and stay in the constituencies they vote in, as explained by Tindak Malaysia’s founder PY Wong (pic) over the weekend.
Their signatures, he said, will be used on forms as objectors in Tindak Malaysia’s campaign to get the EC to draw electoral constituencies that accurately reflect the wishes of Malaysians in a general election.
“These 100,000 and our maps are a powerful tool,” said Wong, when met after a weekend forum on electoral reform that his group organised with the Malaysian Bar Council.
Wong explained that Tindak Malaysia set 100,000 as the target as by law, objections in each constituency require 100 voters from that area. Since there are 222 parliamentary seats and 576 state seats, the group needs a minimum of 79,800 Malaysians to come forward.
“But we set it at 100,000 or 120 people per constituency just in case people drop out at the last minute.”
If no one challenges the EC next month (and Tindak Malaysia believes it has a unique, never-before-done approach), then Malaysians will just have to be satisfied with this fact – like the last one, the 14th general election will produce a government that does not reflect the people’s collective will.
