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Backbencher wants PM to make ERC report public

This article is 5 years old

Kota Melaka MP Khoo Poay Tiong has called on Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to release the interim report submitted to him by the Electoral Reform Committee (ERC).

Khoo (above), a backbencher, said this is to generate public discussion on electoral reform.

"The prime minister must now make the interim report public in the interest of transparency and to obtain further feedback from a wider range of stakeholders. Otherwise, all the good work of the ERC would be wasted.

"The interim report should be used as an opportunity to generate public discussion and to gauge consensus on the various electoral reform issues.

"This is the sensible thing to do because only then can the ERC further improve its recommendations, before delivering the full and final report by August 2020," he said in a statement today.

Khoo, who is also a member of the special select committee on elections, said he will be proposing to the panel's chairperson to make the ERC report the first agenda when the Dewan Rakyat reconvenes.

"Electoral reform is one of the main promises made in the Pakatan Harapan manifesto. It is a crucial reform that will determine the strength of Malaysia’s democracy in the future.

"Therefore, I urge the prime minister to take the first step by making the ERC’s interim report public," said the DAP lawmaker.

Today, the ERC in a statement said it had submitted the interim report to Mahathir in Putrajaya and aims to have a full report ready by August.

Malaysiakini previously reported that among ERC's proposal was the introduction of a proportional representation system by states at the federal level. 

Under the current first-past-the-post system, the winner tends to take more seats in the Dewan Rakyat than the proportion of votes they actually win.

It is also possible for a coalition or party to win the election while losing the popular vote.

Under the proposed proportional representation system, a party will be allocated seats based on the proportion of votes they win in each state.