'Shahidan's call reinforces gerrymandering claim'

The proposal by a BN minister for Malaysians to vote according to race only reinforces fears that the Election Commission (EC)'s redelineation exercise is being carried out on the same basis.

Shahidan Kassim, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, had mooted the idea. He also has oversight of the EC.

"(The suggestion) is ridiculous and (it is) very shameful that we have a minister saying this because it perpetuates the race issue," Bersih chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah (left) said.

She was speaking after handing over the report of the People's Tribunal on the 13th general election to seven Pakatan Rakyat MPs in Parliament House today.

Maria also said Shahidan’s remarks reflect what ex-EC chief Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman had said about gerrymandering in order to keep Malays in power.

Abdul Rashid, now the patron of Perkasa, had revealed this at an event organised by the Malay-rights NGO last November.

Mkini News