Make every vote count, revamp the electoral system!

THERE have been hundreds of forwarded messages circulated on social media and messaging apps demanding people to register as voters.

But Malaysians must stop being in denial and accept that our current electoral system does not work for the people anymore.

Hence, there is a need to revamp the electoral system to make every vote matters.

Prior to the European colonialism, the Edo people in Benin, Africa were the world leader in producing finest bronze sculptures.

Their secret was to make the finest clay mould before pouring the molten bronze.

The Edo people of Africa highlighted that great moulds were necessary to produce excellent bronze sculptures.

Similarly, Malaysians cannot continue to demand for clean politicians within a “morally corrupt system” – this political system will either corrupt or reject good people.

Sharan Raj

For example in 2019, even the “inclusive” MPs, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman and Khairy Jamaluddin attended infamous Malay Dignity Congress.

Why this happened? It is because our current political system thrives under racist and chauvinistic narrative; it is basically “do or die” for political leaders’ career.

In essence, the first past the post (FTPT) system practiced in Malaysia is the crudest form of democracy.

The MPs and state assemblypersons are chosen based on winning a plurality of votes cast in a particular constituency and votes for any other parties are discarded in toto.

The key to winning is by appealing to the biggest group, often by belittling the minorities. FTPT rewards the “divide and rule” campaign.

FTPT produces a political system centred on right-wing populism such as racism, xenophobia, religious bigotry and welfarism.

Right-wing populism is a common feature for FTPT nations such as the UK and India.

Ironically, the recent election campaign theme of the world’s former biggest coloniser, the UK,  was independence from the European Union (EU).

Another predominant feature of FPTP system is gerrymandering. It leads to lower voter turnout as one vote does not make much difference. Collectively, FPTP allows political parties to come into power with a small number of votes.

In the 1959 General Election, for instance, Umno-MCA-MIC won 72% of seats with just 52% of the votes, comprising only 37% of the total registered voters.

In the 14th General Election, Pakatan Harapan won 93% of state assembly seats with just 67% of votes in the Penang state assembly.

Barisan Nasional won 88% of state assembly seats, with just 62% of the votes in the 2016 Sarawak State Election.

Considering the scenario, it is safe to say that a weak opposition grants massive political powers the victorious, allowing them to amend the Federal Constitution at will.

Often career politicians argue the need for direct representation to serve the constituency, in defence of the FPTP electoral system.

But upon scrutiny at the micro-level, career politicians usually “serve” their constituency by giving out hampers, rice bags or conducting cooking classes to popularise themselves at the constituency.

This is quite contrary to lawmakers’ actual role. The real job of MPs and state assemblypersons are to enact and deliberate policies at the macro level.

Therefore, it is in my humble opinion that Malaysia should adopt the Proportional Representation (PR) system at state and federal levels to make every votes count.

In the PR system, people vote for the party. The particular party which receives 0.5% of the national vote would translate into getting 0.5% of its MPs into the august house.

However, as per the Malaysia Agreement 1963, the Federal Constitution requires East Malaysia to get one third of the seats in Dewan Rakyat.

Nevertheless, the PR system also prevents elected representatives from “jumping ship” for money or other rewards after the election.

It also disallows a single party to garner a supermajority with a small vote swing, hindering any political outfit from getting massive power which will allow them to amend the Federal Constitution whimsically.

Malaysians need to focus on demanding for a progressive democratic system by making every vote count. Let us  adopt the PR electoral system. – Aug 23, 2021

 

Sharan Raj is a human rights activist, environmentalist, and infrastructure policy analyst. He is also the central committee member for Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) and State Secretary for PSM Negeri Melaka (PSM Melaka).

The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.

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