Category: Elections

— Mary O’Donovan
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 27, 2012

APRIL 27 — As the Australian girl who organised Bersih 2.0 in my hometown of Brisbane, Australia; I have sat back and watched the discussion about Bersih 3.0 with great scepticism.

Among my reasons for taking a step back, I told everyone that my studies must take precedence as I am in my final semester at law school. I told the Australian organisers that I thought it was better to have a Malaysian at the forefront of Brisbane’s Bersih 3.0.

Although this was all true, I think my reasons for taking a step back ran deeper. I couldn’t help but feel cynical about all of us coming together again, when no results conducive to change became readily apparent last time.

What will be different this time, what difference did all that time and energy I put into 2.0 make? Perhaps I feel a bit jaded. Did anything change at all with the world coming together to denounce the government’s actions the last time? I began to question if Bersih was ever going to make change happen?

Fortunately, not everyone else has given up hope. Fortunately, not everyone else thought we wouldn’t be heard. Fortunately, many people believe that we must keep moving forward until these changes become apparent. Continue reading “Bersih 3.0 Down Under”

Friday, 27 April 2012
Press Statement

We the undersigned wish to express our profound disappointment at the numerous obstacles that have been put in place by government agencies, especially the Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM) and Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL), to prevent the planned peaceful gathering of Bersih 3.0 on 28 April 2012.

We recognise that these agencies are either under the direct control or influence of your government but we are sure that you, as Prime Minister, concur that they should strictly observe and practice administrative neutrality and not be seen to serve the partisan interests of the ruling parties.

It is disheartening and unacceptable to see these agencies behave in a way that is in direct contradiction to your promises of a more open democratic space for Malaysians.

We wish to emphasise that the right to assembly is guaranteed by the Federal Constitution. The only limitation is that such assembly must not be a threat to national security or to public order. There is nothing to suggest that Bersih 3.0 will be such a threat.

We also note with concern that various groups have been making threats against this planned peaceful gathering. Recent events in Dataran Merdeka where students engaged in a peaceful demonstration have been attacked by thugs show that such threats are not to be taken lightly.

You have promised a reformist agenda and we expect you to uphold your pledge. Continue reading “Concerned citizens call on PM Najib Razak to allow Bersih 3.0 to go ahead peacefully at Dataran Merdeka on April 28”

— The Malaysian Insider
Apr 27, 2012

APRIL 27 — Those who forget history … well, you get the picture.

Electoral reform group Bersih decides to hold a protest and the government gets into a huff. Plays nice for a bit and then acts tough. Locks down the city. Possible chaos if there is police action. And then the government spends time and money again to be good to the people.

Tomorrow, thousands of Malaysians have promised to stand up for their right to clean and fair elections by sitting down for two hours. In 11 cities in Malaysia and 72 cities across the world.

Most Malaysians will get a chance to do that if they are abroad. And perhaps some city authorities in Malaysia are enlightened enough to allow that and not repeat the mistakes that happened in Bersih 2.0.

The question is why haven’t the authorities learnt anything from the past two Bersih rallies? Why offer alternative venues, play nice and say that Bersih has no traction and then outsource the muscling to the police and the city authorities? Continue reading “Deja vu as no lessons learnt”

— Nagappan Karuppiah
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 26, 2012

APRIL 26 — I read Yolanda Augustin (“Why Malaysians overseas are joining Global Bersih 3.0”, Side Views, April 24) and found myself nodding at each line.

I left Malaysia in 2003 to study in Australia. At the end of the first semester, I’d decided I’d make Australia my home. I’d had no interest in Malaysian politics to start with, but in that first semester, Australia opened my eyes to what freedom of speech is about. What multiculturalism — living with people of various races — is all about. How you can write to the newspapers and criticise the prime minister and the government for their policies. How on prime-time television you can voice your opinion. In Australia, I found the meaning of being part of a free, democratic and civil society.

I received my permanent residency in 2007 but to date I am not able to make or call Australia home. Malaysia is still where I cherish the best memories of my life, my school days and friends. I still find myself calling Malaysia home. I am still very much Malaysian at heart. Continue reading “Let’s take back our votes”

by Dr. Chris Anthony

The first Bersih rally held on 10 November2007 saw over 40,000 people from all walks of life taking to the streets of Kuala Lumpur demanding for fair, free and clean elections. The rally organized by the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) reflected the people’s yearning for change. However after more than 3 years on we did not see any substantial changes to our electoral system towards that end as the Barisan Nasional(BN) government did not take the calls by the people seriously. This lackadaisical attitude towards the demands by the people led to the second rally, Bersih 2.0 on 9 July 2011.

Bersih2.0 was a great success as despite being declared illegal, the tightened security, extensive police road blocks and threatening tactics, the people came out in droves, braving the high handed and brutal tactics of the police to defy the ban and demand for something simple and basic rights of every citizen – a free and clean elections.

The eight demands of Bersih 2.0 were: Continue reading “Bersih 3.0 and the clamor for change”

by T H Liew

I believe that IF our nation practices TRUE democracy, then our citizens will be better off.

However, I feel that our nation has gradually become a one-party state, with the ruling political party having a hold on virtually ALL of the bodies which are supposed to be independent in a true democracy, but are not.

The mass media (printed, electronic) are controlled; the police and anti-corruption agency do not seem to act impartially; the judiciary appears tainted esp at the upper echelons. Under these circumstances, how are we to practice true democracy?

Had these bodies been truly independent, then the ruling government will be more just, and more sensitive, to the needs and rights of the citizens. Continue reading “Why I am going for Bersih”

— Damien Kingsbury
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 26, 2012

APRIL 26 — Malaysia is facing a political crisis. Its government appears to have lost electoral legitimacy and is facing its biggest challenge to holding onto power since independence half a century ago.

As with the flowering of democratic movements in other countries over the past year, Malaysia now appears to be approaching its own “democratic spring”.

In order to forestall this blossoming of democracy in Malaysia, the government has hobbled the Election Commission, has rorted the electoral process through disproportionate parliamentary seats and a range of other matters that continue to require investigation.

The government now appears ready to stage elections at a time it believes will produce the best results for itself. Continue reading “Malaysia should welcome independent electoral observers”

— Stephen Ng
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 25, 2012

APRIL 25 — I had half expected that this would develop, despite the Najib administration promising that the Bersih 3.0 sit-in protest could go on.

The prime minister will not allow civil society’s push for democracy to topple his government under Barisan Nasional for the past 55 years. Frankly, since Bersih 2.0 on July 9, Najib Razak has not learnt his lesson from history that no government that continues to fight the people will last long.

Whatever happens on Saturday will cost his government a big price. Two things I wish to remind Najib Razak and his men:

— That if the government continues to fight civil society, it will no last very long

— That if the civilians are treated with brutality or arrested, or charged in court, as threatened, it will create more anger amongst the people. Each of us has a network of at least 100 people around us. People like Ambiga Sreenevasan or Pak Samad Ismail would have thousands of supporters. You touch anyone, it will have a multiplying effect that will never be matched by even the biggest tsunami! Continue reading “A lack of sincerity is what pisses off city folks”

By Ong Kian Ming | Apr 24, 2012
Malaysiakini

COMMENT In two previous articles, I highlighted 10 problems associated with the electoral roll as part of the preliminary findings of the Malaysian Electoral Roll Analysis Project (Merap), a research effort to identify and understand problems with the existing electoral roll.

In this article, I want to highlight further problems involving far more voters than those identified in the previous two articles. [see Part 1 I Part 2]

Firstly, approximately 3.1 million voters were identified as potential non-resident voters by the National Registration Department (NRD) in 2002. This data was given by NRD to the Election Commission (EC) but no action was taken by the EC to assess the magnitude of this problem and to identify ways to rectify it.

Secondly, using the EC’s own data which lists the nationality or ‘bangsa’ of each voter, approximately 65,000 voters were identified as having foreign nationalities. Of these, close to 90 percent or 58,000 had IC numbers which indicate that they were born in Malaysia.

In addition, approximately 49,000 of these voters came from one state alone – Sabah – which has a well-documented history where ICs were given to illegal immigrants in order to allow them to register as voters.
Continue reading “Electoral roll: What else is the EC hiding?”

By Ong Kian Ming | Apr 8, 2012
Malaysiakini

ANALYSIS In the first part of this article, I highlighted five problems with the electoral roll which were not addressed in the report by the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on Electoral Reform.

In this second part, I will highlight five additional problems with the electoral roll, all of which concern the highly problematic area of postal voting among army and police personnel.

5. Postal voters who are registered using their regular ICs

Army personnel, who are postal voters, have IC addresses beginning with T. Police personnel, who are postal voters, have IC addressing beginning with R, G and I.

If any of these army or police voters were previously registered as voters using their civilian IC numbers, their civilian registration entries should be deleted from the electoral roll.
Continue reading “‘Dubious’ voters may decide GE13”

By Ong Kian Ming | Apr 7, 2012
Malaysiakini

ANALYSIS The Parliamentary Select Committee on Electoral Reform report, which was released earlier this week, highlights 22 recommendations on how to improve the electoral process.

I will not go through each and every recommendation or discuss the overall quality of these recommendations since others including the Bar Council chairperson and the Bersih steering committee have already done so.

bersih announcing 3rd rally 040412 ong kian mingWhat I will focus on in this two-part article is the many problems which are to be found in the electoral roll. To summarise, the report fails to acknowledge significant problems that have to do with the electoral roll, many of which are already well known, and seems to limit the scope of checking the accuracy of the electoral roll to a few not very useful parameters.
Continue reading “10 major problems in EC’s electoral roll”