The American civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Martin Luther King said that, “Unity is the great need of the hour. Unity is how we shall overcome.”
Malaysians must unite against those who wish to build walls that separate us and push us into racial enclaves to divide and turn Malaysians against each other. The recent constituency delineation for the 14th General Elections is a shocking exercise of not only shameless political gerrymandering but also irresponsible “electoral apartheid”.
What the Election Commission has done is not only to do BN’s bidding to help BN win the next general elections, but also adopt a dangerous formula to further deepen the racial divide amongst Malaysians. By lumping racial groups in one constituency instead of mixed seats, the Election Commission is adopting the BN racist formula where voters sees themselves as Malays first, Chinese first, Indian first, Iban first or Kadazan first instead of Malaysian first.
Further, opposition supporters are lumped in one seat as compared to BN supporters divided into many seats, a clear violation of “one person, one vote, one value” principle for democracy. In a democracy, voters choose politicians but in a political gerrymandering, politicians choose voters.
The Elections Commission has gone a step further by adopting electoral apartheid, creating racial blocs. This would allow BN to appeal to the devil of racism and extremism instead of appealing to the better angels of our nature to unite around common values of justice, fair treatment, rule of law, freedom and democracy.
DAP believes that Malaysians can still prevail by uniting against those who wish to divide us, against those who wish to build walls and against those who wish to frighten us to hate each other instead of loving each other. Happy Easter Weekend!
LIM GUAN ENG