KUALA LUMPUR – PAS’ Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim (Arau-PN) has urged the government to consider electoral reforms towards ensuring higher non-Malay representation in the Dewan Rakyat.
He said that there is a need for Malaysia to consider a different electoral system, pointing to Singapore’s group representation constituency (GRC) method where candidates team up as a group instead of individually competing to be elected into Parliament.
“Malaysia’s current electoral system was formed in 1957 based on the federal constitution. Now, (the nation’s demographic) consists of 70.1% Bumiputeras, 22.6% Chinese and 6.6% Indians.
“If we conduct our elections based on the GRC system, minorities will have a representative (in Parliament) as Indians will be entitled to 16 seats (out of the 222 parliamentary seats).
“Look at how many seats Indians have now, it’s not enough,” Shahidan said during his debate on the mid-term review of the 12th Malaysia Plan.
The lower House currently has 11 Indian MPs, making up 4.95% of parliamentarians.
Labelling the GRC system as the “best option” for Malaysia’s electoral progress, Shahidan called on the government and the Election Commission to consider the proposal, especially since the electoral system has not gone through any reforms since independence.
Singapore implemented the GRC system in 1998, with its government saying then that the move was primarily to enshrine minority representation in Parliament, as at least one of the MPs in a GRC must be a member of the republic’s minority communities. – September 14, 2023