The Malaysian Insight

A COURT of Appeal ruling today, overturning a High Court order to the Election Commission (EC) not to submit its redelineation report without Selangor, was disappointing but expected, said Bersih.

“We are disappointed but it’s not unexpected,” Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah told The Malaysian Insight.

“In all our cases in Selangor, Malacca and Johor, we didn’t get favourable decisions from the court.”

“It seems like the EC has a free hand to do what they want,” said Maria.

Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming felt that the decision was baseless as the injunction issued to stop the delimitation exercise in Selangor does not affect the process of in other states.

“I hope this does not mean the redelineation plan will be handed to the prime minister without following the Federal Constitution where public hearing has to be done at least twice in every states in the peninsular.

“According to the constitution, Peninsular Malaysia is considered as a unit. Redelineation cannot be done without Selangor. I feel that if the existing plan is handed to the prime minister, the matter can be brought to court as it is unconstitutional,” said the DAP election strategist.

But Barisan Nasional MP for Hulu Selangor P. Kamalanathan said the court was trying to allow EC carry out its duty.

“I think the court felt EC was only trying to do its duty according to the existing laws and Selangor should have no reason to stop them,” Kamalanathan told The Malaysian Insight.

Today’s ruling will allow the EC to submit its report on the redrawing of electoral constituencies to the prime minister.

In July, the High Court had ruled in favour of the Selangor government who applied to block the EC until the end of an ongoing court challenge by the Selangor government.

The EC had appealed against the High Court decision.

The three-person Court of Appeal panel which includes Azmadi Asnawi and Suraya Othman, did not reveal why the earlier ruling was overturned unanimously.

The Selangor government had applied for an injunction on April 25, to stop EC from conducting the second inquiry on its redelineation exercise in the peninsula until its legal challenge is decided by the court.

It also wanted an order from the court to stop the EC from submitting the report to Prime Minister Najib Razak, who, under the Federal Constitution, will table the findings in the Dewan Rakyat for approval.

Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali, who is also PKR deputy president, previously said the EC’s move to publish the second notice to conduct the second inquiry was in breach of Article 113 (6) of the Federal Constitution.

The provision states that there should be separate reviews for states of Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak.

The state government had legal challenge in October last year, seeking to nullify the EC’s notice of redelineation, claiming it violated the Federal Constitution in drawing new electoral boundaries.

The EC published an 18-page notice in major newspapers last September on the proposed redelineation in Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah. – October 30, 2017.