Speaking after an event at the Perdana Leadership Foundation, Mahathir said the MPs were not given enough time to debate the Election Commission’s proposals.
He accused the government of not knowing the meaning of fairness and said the redelineation was passed just for the coming general election and this was not in the interests of the people.
“So there is no need to debate. Just do what you want to do,” he said sarcastically.
“In other countries, the voice of the opposition is taken into consideration. Here, the government just does what it wants. No amendments whatsoever.”
The Dewan Rakyat passed the motion on the redelineation of electoral boundaries today after MPs from both sides debated for some two hours. Earlier, there were protests against the plan outside the Parliament building.
During the debate, seven MPs from each side were allocated 10 minutes each to put their points across.
Mahathir said the redelineation was a “cruel” act and it took away the people’s right to choose.
Mahathir, who was prime minister for 22 years, said during his administration, redelineation exercises were carried out once in eight years, with the objective of increasing the number of seats, in tandem with the country’s growing population.
However, the PPBM and Pakatan Harapan chairman said, this time, the redelineation wasn’t about adding seats but a case of gerrymandering to give the ruling party an advantage.
He also said that the redelineation, which analysts had expected to negatively impact the PH coalition, especially in Selangor, highlighted Barisan Nasional’s (BN) desperation.
“BN wants to control Selangor so it is doing all it can to win.”
Selangor, the country’s richest state, was a BN stronghold until it fell to the opposition in 2008.
Mahathir, who is PH’s prime ministerial candidate in the 14th general election, said the government should have waited for the ongoing court cases on the redelineation to be decided before tabling the proposals in the Dewan Rakyat.
“But the government doesn’t care for the law.”
There are several legal cases pertaining to the redelineation process, including challenges mounted by the Penang and Selangor governments.