KUCHING: Implementing a law to sack non functioning or problematic representatives would first require changes to the current electoral system.
Political analyst Dr Lee Kuok Tiung, a senior lecturer at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) pointed out that while the suggestion for such a law is interesting, it may be difficult to implement.
“In my opinion, when Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar (Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law)) is no longer holding his current portfolio, the new minister taking over may have a different mindset.
“That is why, we need to examine in detail how and whether it was ever done by the countries he mentioned (United Kingdom and New Zealand),” he said when contacted by the New Sarawak Tribune.
In the event, he questioned if the law were to be passed, what will the election process be like.
“As we can see, even getting a simple majority is difficult because the electoral system used in our country now is first-past-the-post voting where we have seen many candidates not getting half the number of registered voters in the area they contested.
“In my opinion, it is unfair if the election requires a majority of registered voters,” he said.
Furthermore, Lee pointed out that the number of eligible voters in the electoral roll increases from time to time and that Malaysia has a malapportionment issue due to urbanisation and migration from rural or interior areas to the urban areas.
“So, if ever the election is held, is the petition based on the electoral roll when the election was held or the current (latest) one? What about those who did not vote during the election, do they have the right to participate in the petition?”
While raising his concerns on how the process will be like, he also questioned the possibility of a different party member being chosen as the representative at the recall elections.
“If it is given to the candidate who gets the second highest vote, what happens if he is from the opposing party? Wouldn’t the probability affect the number of the majority seats of the ruling party and change the government?”
Recently, Wan Junaidi said that the government is willing to consider laws to enable the people to sack non-functioning or problematic representatives.
According to him, through such laws, the people can send a petition to the government to pick a new representative through an election.
