'Wan Ahmad, deputy chairman of the EC, “Britain, already a few hundred years practising democracy, until now it uses first past the post”.
Perhaps the suggested inference would be that Malaysia’s electoral system may be compared with and is on par to that of the UK; alongside first world and democratic countries.
The purpose of this article is to assess the truth of this proposed inference. This is important as it is seen in light of two issues:
(1) the Parliamentary Select Committee on Electoral Reform’s 2012 recommendation that the EC should review its stance on improving the ‘first past the post’ system and consider a ‘proportional representation’ system; and
(2) the EC’s task of making recommendations to parliament in re-delineating its constituencies by the end of this year.
Superficial similarities?
There are indeed similarities between Malaysia and the UK, in terms of the electoral system, but I am convinced that the dissimilarities far outweigh the similarities. Hence, Wan Ahmad’s analogical comparison is a false one.
In fact, one would realise that there are serious flaws in the Malaysian electoral system which must be addressed adequately by the relevant authorities. If remedial action is not taken, Malaysian democracy is at stake.
It is true that the Westminster Parliament of the UK and Malaysia’s Federal Parliament uses the ‘first-past-the-post’ system. Both are bicameral legislatures, with one elected House and another appointed one. On the one hand, the Westminster Parliament has 650 seats in the House of Commons. On the other, Malaysia has 222 seats in the Dewan Rakyat. Thus ends the similarities between our two countries.
Alongside the ‘first-past-the-post’ system, there are several other factors which help ensure (to an extent) proportional representation in the democratic elections of Westminster Parliament.
This is not the case in Malaysia. To risk stating the obvious, there is a disparity between the popular vote and the seats won in the federal parliament of Malaysia in GE13; although Pakatan Rakyat won 51 per cent of the popular vote, the coalition only attained 89 seats, which is only slightly more than 40 per cent of the seats...'
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Perhaps the suggested inference would be that Malaysia’s electoral system may be compared with and is on par to that of the UK; alongside first world and democratic countries.
The purpose of this article is to assess the truth of this proposed inference. This is important as it is seen in light of two issues:
(1) the Parliamentary Select Committee on Electoral Reform’s 2012 recommendation that the EC should review its stance on improving the ‘first past the post’ system and consider a ‘proportional representation’ system; and
(2) the EC’s task of making recommendations to parliament in re-delineating its constituencies by the end of this year.
Superficial similarities?
There are indeed similarities between Malaysia and the UK, in terms of the electoral system, but I am convinced that the dissimilarities far outweigh the similarities. Hence, Wan Ahmad’s analogical comparison is a false one.
In fact, one would realise that there are serious flaws in the Malaysian electoral system which must be addressed adequately by the relevant authorities. If remedial action is not taken, Malaysian democracy is at stake.
It is true that the Westminster Parliament of the UK and Malaysia’s Federal Parliament uses the ‘first-past-the-post’ system. Both are bicameral legislatures, with one elected House and another appointed one. On the one hand, the Westminster Parliament has 650 seats in the House of Commons. On the other, Malaysia has 222 seats in the Dewan Rakyat. Thus ends the similarities between our two countries.
Alongside the ‘first-past-the-post’ system, there are several other factors which help ensure (to an extent) proportional representation in the democratic elections of Westminster Parliament.
This is not the case in Malaysia. To risk stating the obvious, there is a disparity between the popular vote and the seats won in the federal parliament of Malaysia in GE13; although Pakatan Rakyat won 51 per cent of the popular vote, the coalition only attained 89 seats, which is only slightly more than 40 per cent of the seats...'
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