Why did the rigging of Malaysian electoral boundaries failed to deliver any advantage to the incumbent regime? This powerpoint presentation looks through the recent history of redelineation, the controversies of the previous exercise and finally how rigging was neutralised

1. DEFEATING THE RIGGED
BORDERS – REDELINEATION
MEETS ITS MATCH
Danesh Prakash Chacko
(Tindak Malaysia Network Services PLT)

2. OUTLINE
• Understanding Electoral System and
Redelineation Principles
• Historical Events leading up to 2016/18
Redelineation Exercise
• Contentions of Redelineation Exercise
• Neutralising the Effect of the rigging
• Concluding Remarks

3. BASICS OF MALAYSIAN ELECTORAL
SYSTEM
• Parliamentary style government
• First Past the Post (FPTP) /Plurality
• How to form a government?

4. FUNDAMENTALS OF REDELINEATION
• Redelineation
• Gerrymandering
• Malapportionment
Gerry goes absolute
meandering at the polling
district (DM) level

5. FUNDAMENTALS OF REDELINEATION
• What makes a constituency?
• Blue indicates locality
• Red indicates polling
district (DM)

6. HISTORICAL EVENTS LEADING TO
REDELINEATION EXERCISE
2003
Redelineation
is approved
for Sabah and
Peninsular
Malaysia
2018
Redelineation
is approved
For Peninsular
Malaysia
2005
Redelineation is
Approved for
Sarawak
2008 – 2010
Redivision of
Polling districts
2013
GE13 delays
Redelineation
2013/14
Talks of
maximum
seat size for
urban areas
2015
Sarawak
Redelineation/
Court case
against EC
2016
Redivision of
Polling districts
2016 – 2018
Court cases
Against EC
2016
Redelineation
For Sabah and
Peninsular
Malaysia
2016
DUN Sabah
approves seat
increase

7. ANALYSING 2016 - 18 REDELINEATION
Source : Penang Institute, SPR Malaysia

8. KEY ISSUES OF REDELINEATION
• Failure to comply with the principles of 13th Schedule
• Vague effort to show the effect of the redelineation
• Not addressing voter concerns adequately
• Racialisation of the redelineation process

9. COMPLIANCE WITH 13TH SCHEDULE
• End goal of any redelineation exercise is to ensure all delineated
constituencies comply with 13th Schedule
• Two types of violations can occur (Chin Huat,2016):
• Maintenance of Non Compliance: No or minimal boundary change in Penang
• Aggravation of Non Compliance: Shifts in Selangor and KL
• Let’s look at examples in Penang and Selangor

10. COMPLIANCE WITH 13TH SCHEDULE
• Maintenance of Non Compliance – minimal or no change to Penang
approved Boundaries
• Redelineation ought to adjust larger and smaller DUNs to converge
closer to Electoral Quota (EQ)
Deviation from Electoral
Quota of the State
2013
Affected
Seats
2016
Affected
Seats
Voter Population
Growth (2013 - 2016)
Exceeding - 33% 2 2 -5.72%
-33 % to - 15% 10 10 0.68%
-15% to 0% 10 10 2.98%
0 to 15% 8 8 3.03%
15% to 33% 5 5 1.87%
Over 33% 5 5 4.90%

11. COMPLIANCE WITH 13TH SCHEDULE
• Aggravation of Non Compliance – complete disregard of local ties in
Selangor
3 new DMs
(urbanised and
military area)
added to Seri
Setia
• Spanning two
local authorities
• Arbitrary joining
disparate
communities

12. KNOWING THE EFFECT OF THE
PROCESS
• Voters are given with the following information to object:
Map of Proposed Boundaries at the
State Level
Pre Redelineation Allocation
Of Polling Districts
Proposed Allocation of Polling
Districts and new
Names for Constituencies

13. IGNORING VOTER’S CONCERNS
• EC claims movement of polling districts is to balance constituency
population
• Despite concerns from local residents and council, EC proceeded to widen the
malapportionment
• EC initially agreed to the significant amount of objections for
Selangor’s controversial boundaries but later proceeded with those
boundaries
Seat
Post
Redelineation
Pre
Redelineation
Gap Post
Redelineation
Gap Pre
Redelineation
MERBOK 87997 97158
SUNGAI PETANI 112798 103637 24801 6479

14. RACIALISATION OF SEATS
• Reduction of mixed seats in favour for more ethnic majority seats in
Peninsular Malaysia
• Racial reengineering based on historical ethnic preferences are
done at DUN level in Kedah, Perak and Selangor
• Johor may present a special case of no consistent racialization of
seats
REDELINEATIO
N SCENARIO
MALAY
MAJORITY
SEATS
CHINESE
MAJORITY
SEATS
MIXED SEATS
PRE
REDELINEATION
115 21 29
POST
REDELINEATION
117 24 24

15. NEUTRALISING THE RIGGING
Post Redelineation Scene for GE14NO Redelineation Scenario for GE14

16. NEUTRALISING REDELINEATION
• Minimum amount of popular share for BN to form government : 38 –
39%
• In GE14, BN vote share fell to 35%
• Pakatan Harapan gained new ground in some undersized and
untouched seats in Perak, Selangor, Kedah and Johor
• By early 2018, voter turnout and shift of political preference carried
more weight in GE14 than the redelineation process
• Redelineation may only delivered one seat in favour to BN

17. NEUTRALISING THE RIGGING
• Shift in Malay Voter Preference
Credit : Rui Yang Fann (2018)

18. NEUTRALISING THE RIGGING
• Consolidation of PH support among non Malay voters

19. LONG TERM CONSEQUENCES
• All it takes 16.5% of the popular vote in the country to form a
government!
• Continued inconveniences for state representatives in servicing
gerrymandered constituencies (i.e. Sg Kandis, Seri Setia)
• Low voter turnout in recent by elections
• Ethnicization of seats could still provide an advantage for future
UMNO – PAS Alliance

20. CONCLUSION
• High voter turnout, shift in political preferences and electoral vigilance trumped the political
effect of redelineation
• Two ways to overcome current rigging: Change in electoral system or change in number of
representatives
• Lingering legacy of rigged borders are still being felt in the current Malaysian political and
administrative spheres

21. REFERENCES
• Penang Institute
• SPR Malaysia (Redelineation Reports & Pelan Warta)
• Q4 2017 Electoral Roll
• PKR Malaysia
• IDE Selangor
• Bersih 2.0 [OFFICIAL]