YOURSAY | Sensible idea from Arau MP

YOURSAY | 'Will Shahidan’s Malay-only allies accept such a proposal?’

PN MP asks for higher non-Malay representation in Dewan Rakyat

BusinessFirst: Finally, a sensible suggestion from Arau MP Shahidan Kassim if it is sincere. Better still, redraw boundaries to include more representation for cities and more mixed seats.

Why? All this has shown it will increase moderation. We need to avoid the extremism that exists in a polarised USA where seats are clearly Democratic or Republican.

Hence, the candidates in those seats tend to move to the extreme to differentiate themselves from others.

We see the same now happening in Malaysia where some parties must prove themselves to be more Malay than Umno and more Islamic than PAS.

With more mixed seats, PAS and Bersatu will be forced to tone down and be more inclusive or risk defeat with 35 percent constantly voting against them.

P Dev Anand Pillai: But aren't they all against the DAP which has many non-Malay MPs amongst them? Why all this hypocrisy?

Will Shahidan’s Malay-only allies accept such a proposal? Ask them first.

Of course, it is a good suggestion but being Malay Malaysia, will the electorate accept that if one of the Muslim leaders were to say that there are too many non-Malays in Parliament it is shrouding the number of Malay-Muslim lawmakers and the positions of power?

Ask that. Till then it is all just talk and talk but no action.

Broncho2022: Is there a hidden agenda to Shahidan’s proposal? To test his seriousness, perhaps this MP could be asked to lead the committee that will try to bring this change to Parliament.

A committee that will be chaired by him, pro bono, no budget, no allocation, just honest sincere service to the nation.

He can then be the champion or the villain. How now, brown cow?

Methink: Let’s hope it is not a case of reverse psychology, coming from PN. Knowing this is unlikely to happen now, they propose, so they can have bragging rights they were open to changing the voting landscape.

Still, credit must be given, it is a good idea, but more seats could be the result and some deadwood being selected.

V S: The Singapore system of "group representation constituency" (GRC) practised since 1988 will not work in Malaysia. Today, their elected president is a Singaporean of Indian origin. Do you think such things can happen in Malaysia?

Our narrow-minded self-serving politicians are the biggest obstacle in recognising and promoting deserving Malaysians for their meritocracy and excellence for a better Malaysia.

You must put your money where your mouth is. Is Perikatan Nasional a party that caters to all Malaysians?

Anon25: Agree, Singapore does not have political parties based on race. Nor is one based on religion.

Although there is a majority of Chinese in Singapore, they rarely shout about race and religion. Their official language is English. Their schools are in English.

In Malaysia, we have MCA and MIC. Surely, they will not allow GRC type of parliamentary representation in our Parliament.

Coward: It's window dressing and aimed at making life difficult for parties that lack Malay support like DAP.

For PN, Umno, and other big Malay parties, all it does is allow politicians to field their own "Pak turut" (Yes men) from other races and claim they are multiracial while persisting in practising their race-based policies.

For a party like DAP without much Malay support, they might find it difficult to find enough Malay members because a lot of their Malay supporters won't want to put their heads above the tree parapet.

IndigoTrout2522: Singapore and Malaysia have different political and electoral Singapore systems. It is multi-racial.

First, Malaysia needs to reform its electoral parliamentary seats to be more balanced. It does not make sense to have some constituents with over 100,000 or even 300,000 while others are fewer with 50,000 or below.

This is uneven representation and unfair. Pakatan Harapan has been complaining about this when it was in the opposition but why is it not making this reform a high priority?

OMG: To get more multiracial representation, a more powerful and effective idea is to ban communal parties from, say in 2027 or 2032, that is the 16th or 17th general elections.

It is the idea of communal politics that breeds the 3R (race, religion, and royalty) sloganeering and racial politics. Just stop it, please.

In the future, all parties must allow any eligible Malaysian to join them. Their rules have to change or they will be declared illegal.

The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. In the past year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now.

These comments are compiled to reflect the views of Malaysiakini subscribers on matters of public interest. Malaysiakini does not intend to represent these views as fact.