MP: Embargo meant to scuttle suits against EC?

Questions have been raised on whether Dewan Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia had intentionally embargoed the contents of the Election Commission's redelineation report to stymie several lawsuits.

Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming said a case brought by activist Ivy Josiah and three others would be heard on March 23 while another suit by activist Maria Chin Abdullah and 107 others will be heard on March 28 - which is the expiry of the embargo.

"If the contents of the delimitation exercise are still embargoed up to the March 28, then it is likely that the plaintiffs in both these cases won't be able to refer to the delimitation exercise in their respective court cases.

"These actions raise the possibility that the office of the Dewan Rakyat speaker, the EC and Prime Minister's Office are acting in concert in order to push through this unfair and undemocratic delimitation exercise so that the BN can gain yet another electoral advantage in the coming general election," Ong said in a statement today.

Both suits relate to Selangorians who have filed objections to the proposed redelineation but they were not called forth to state their case before the local inquiry.

They are arguing that this is a violation of the Federal Constitution provisions under the Thirteen Schedule.

Pandikar made an unusual ruling today by disallowing MPs from reading the redelineation report, which was already placed on their table today, and stipulated that the embargo will only be lifted on March 28.

"This is unprecedented in Malaysia parliamentary history, where an official document that has already been tabled is under embargo for six days.

"Even the speech by the finance minister and the yearly budget documents are only embargoed for a few hours, which is the time period before the budget is formally presented in Parliament by the finance minister," observed Ong.

In view of this, he urged Pandikar to immediately lift the embargo in order to allow the public, the MPs and the press to access the report to access for themselves whether the redelineation exercise is fair and democratic. -Mkini