Post-13th General Election, there is a heightened sense of political awareness in the public sphere. And with the forthcoming delineation exercise of electoral constituencies to be conducted by the Election Commission (EC) this year, more and more questions have been asked by concerned citizens. How does the EC conduct the exercise? What are gerrymandering and malapportionment? How prevalent are these with regards to the present electoral system in Malaysia? What can be done to address malapportionment? What can the public do to ensure a transparent and fair delineation exercise?
The Bar Council Constitutional Law Committee and Human Rights Committee are co-organising this public seminar and forum to explore these issues in greater detail.
The details of the event are as follows:
Time: 9:30 am to 5:30 pm
Date: 8 June 2013 (Saturday)
Venue: Raja Aziz Addruse Auditorium, Bar Council, First Floor, 15 Leboh Pasar Besar, 50050 Kuala Lumpur
Event Code: 08062013/BC/BC1139/5
CPD Points: Five
Admission is free but advance registration is required.
The speakers and topics are:
(1) Andrew Khoo Chin Hock, Co-Chairperson, Bar Council Human Rights Committee: Overview of the constituency delineation process, its brief history, the existing laws and landscape of the electoral constituencies;
(2) Dr Wong Chin Huat, Political Scientist and Activist: Problems in the existing delineation process;
(3) PY Wong, Founder, Tindak Malaysia: Significance of public participation in ensuring a fairer outcome of the delineation exercise, specifically on how proposed alterations can be challenged by members of the public;
(4) Datuk Wira Hj Wan Ahmad bin Wan Omar, EC Deputy Chairman: How the EC conducted the last delineation exercise in 2003, the challenges faced and the upcoming delineation exercise; and
(5) Dr Bridget Welsh, Associate Professor of Political Science, Singapore Management University: How the delineation exercise is conducted in other countries, the problems faced and how these were addressed, and whether such approaches can be adopted by the EC.
For more details or to register, kindly contact Anusha Gopala Krishnan (03-2050 2097); [email protected]) or Mohd Fazli Rosman (03-2050 2105); [email protected]).