Category: Elections

— Thomas Fann
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 24, 2012

APRIL 24 — As I write this, we are just four days away from April 28, 2012. It is the day which the Bersih 2.0 steering committee has chosen to have Bersih 3.0, a sit-down protest called by its BM name Duduk Bantah. It is late at night and I am sleepless. As I lay awake, I reminisced about Bersih 2.0 held last year on July 9.

However, this time round, Bersih 3.0 is no longer an option for me for I found myself roped into the committee organising it simultaneously with the KL event, in my city. The band of us was crazy enough, probably foolish as well, to even consider doing it. Probably the experiences of July 9, 2011 have hardened our resolve to push for change and we didn’t want our beloved city to miss out on it.

But I am realising that it is one thing to risk your own life and another to be in a position where you may also be risking the lives of others. It is a fear that is multiplied by the number of those who will be coming out to sit down and protest.

Wait a minute! We are just talking about we, the citizens, wanting to say that we think the present electoral system and roll needs to be improved and cleaned up. All we are asking is two hours to sit down in a public space to voice our concerns. Why should we be afraid? Yet, we are. Continue reading “Bersih 3.0, the fear factor”

— May Chee Chook Ying
The Malaysian Insider
April 24, 2012

APRIL 24 — What do you pray for when you pray, as when you speak to God? I was educated in a convent. So, from young I was “exposed” to the Catholic faith. So, I learnt how to pray, at least I think I know how to pray. Apart from the set prayers, I learnt how to talk to God.

My first and only gift I’ve asked from God since my primary years has been this — a conscience. A heavy conscience can be so inconvenient but that was what I asked for and that was what I got. I asked for it, so to speak!

So, what’s a conscience? The Oxford dictionary defines a conscience as a moral sense of right and wrong. I guess it means that when you have a conscience, simply put, you do know when you are doing right or wrong. When it’s right, you feel good and liberated. When it’s wrong, you feel lousy and imprisoned by guilt, fear, doubts, etc.

Please bear with me when I speak of conscience from the viewpoint of a Catholic. The size of the world depends on your conscience. Conscience can make the world bigger or smaller. It was the Lord Himself who said this: Two men can look at the “lily in the field” and the one sees more than the other. The first sees the stem and the petals of the flower. The second sees this and something beyond: the Providence of the Father who clothes it more magnificently than “Solomon in all his regalia”.

For the second man, his conscience is something more than a “still, small voice” at the back of his head. His world is bigger and he is too big a person to be crippled by the chilling fear of punishment when he does wrong or a feeling of guilt when he dares to be unconventional. Such a man can see the whole stage and not just part of the scenery. His conscience is what we, Catholics, call “the Vision of the Whole”. Continue reading “How do you discern?”

– Yolanda Augustin
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 24, 2012

APRIL 24 – My name is Yolanda Augustin and I left Malaysia 14 years ago to study in the UK, where I now live and work as a doctor. I’m writing to explain what inspired me to get involved in the Bersih movement and global solidarity work for Malaysia.

For many years, I felt a sense of helplessness and frustration as I followed Malaysian current affairs and saw the country I grew up in stuck in a downward spiral of poor governance and deteriorating civil liberties and human rights. What really got to me was the complete waste of potential – Malaysia was and remains a beautiful country – rich in natural resources, great weather, fantastic cuisine and diverse culture. It has a small population of 28 million people that could enjoy a world class healthcare and education system if the money spent on hapless vanity projects and siphoned off to fund the multimillionaire lifestyles of government ministers was spent on improving the lives of the rakyat.

I was also struck by the vast number of Malaysians I met living overseas – many of them doing interesting and inspiring things – writers, scientists, entrepreneurs, doctors, chefs, bankers, lecturers, lawyers, nurses, town planners, engineers, actors, the list goes on. Many of them still with strong roots and a sense of connection to their place of birth. Many of them wanting to contribute something good and positive towards Malaysia but not knowing what, where or how. Continue reading “Why Malaysians 0verseas are joining Global Bersih 3.0”

— Faizal Tajuddin
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 23, 2012

APRIL 23 — Step One: Pretend you’re reforming and making changes. For the better, of course. And make sure people notice it, and to make doubly sure they don’t forget, don’t make the changes too early. Do it late. Very late. A month or two before General Election late. Then you can appear on mass media and go “See? See? It was a struggle and a sacrifice and it was tough but we did it for you. For the people!”

Step Two: Real reform can be dangerous. Especially if one is too comfortable holding on to power. The power is practically a permanent mandate now. An entitlement. And real changes might mean you’d lose that power. So don’t really change anything, appear to change something. A little bit of window dressing or a new coat of paint, something along the lines of: Telling people you’re going to scrap the ISA, but then replace it with something just as nasty. Or tell people they can protest peacefully now, no need for permits, freedom of assembly is upheld etc, blah blah blah, but then designate practically everywhere as non-assembly zones.

Step Three: Really change something. Only this time, something of benefit for powers that be and not for people, then slip in that tiny, innocuous real game-changer along with the big pronouncements and make the necessary amendments at the parliament. Rush all those bills in one day, get it all done and announce it to the media. With any luck, everybody would concentrate on the big public relations “reforms” and ignore that one tiny innocuous nothingness that really changes a whole lot.

Step Four: Celebrate. You just won the election again. Continue reading “How to steal an election”

— May Chee Chook Ying
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 23, 2012

APRIL 23 — Let’s forget about trying to break into the Guinness Book of World Records and stuff. Let’s just get back to basics. Let’s just go back to square one; what it means to be a democracy, what it means to uphold the constitution. Let’s remember the pledge of the Rukunegara, first mooted in 1970. For those who have forgotten about it and for those who do not know anything about it, it goes like this:

“Our Nation, Malaysia, is dedicated to: Achieving a greater unity for all her people; maintaining a democratic way of life; creating a just society in which the wealth of the nation shall be equitably distributed; ensuring a liberal approach to her rich and diverse cultural tradition, and building a progressive society which shall be oriented to modern science and technology.

We, the people of Malaysia, pledge our united efforts to attain these ends, guided by these principles:

Belief in God

Loyalty to King and Country

Upholding the Constitution

Sovereignty of the Law and

Good Behaviour and Morality”

Seen or felt any of the above lately? Am I the only one sorely missing the spirit of the Rukunegara? Can we drown out the din, please, and get back to living with dignity, the way decent human beings deserve to? Continue reading “Let’s just get back to basics”

By Shannon Teoh
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 23, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, April 23 — Bersih accused the Election Commission (EC) today of failing to investigate 3.1 million voters whose identity card (IC) addresses differ from that in the electoral roll despite having the information since 2002.

Speaking at a press conference called by the electoral reform movement, independent polls analyst Ong Kian Ming said the EC was given this information for all states in the peninsula and also Kuala Lumpur in 2002 and the figure made up 37 per cent of the 8.3 million voters registered then.

The project director for the Malaysian Electoral Roll Analysis Project (MERAP) said he has had the information given by the National Registration Department (NRD) to the EC before the implementation of the new registration system where all voters have to be registered according to the constituency indicated by their IC addresses.

“The EC has failed to act on this… to clean up the electoral roll even though the presence of these non-resident voters contravenes Article 119 1(b) of the Federal Constitution which says a voter must be a resident in the constituency he is voting in,” he said. Continue reading “3.1m dubious voters on list for a decade, says Bersih”

— Justice Seeker
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 22, 2012

APRIL 22 — The mayor of Kuala Lumpur, or the man who heads the KL City Hall (DBKL), is a political appointee.

He is appointed by Prime Minister Najib Razak, and he takes orders from Putrajaya. It is not an independent DBKL, as Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein would have us believe, that the people at DBKL make decisions independently or without fear or favour.

DBKL listens to Najib, Federal Territories Minister Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin, or any other Barisan Nasional power broker.

So Hishammuddin can save his act about hoping DBKL will offer the organisers of Bersih 3.0 the alternative of Stadium Merdeka, now that DBKL has denied approval for the use of Dataran Merdeka.

The Cabinet, in which Hishammuddin is a member, decided that Dataran Merdeka is off limits and wants to confine Bersih 3.0 to Stadium Merdeka and this information has been communicated to DBKL.

But here is the minister trying to hoodwink Malaysians into thinking a) that he is a reasonable chap; b) that the Datuk Bandar is some independent-minded chap and c) that the BN government is really unconcerned about Bersih 3.0. Continue reading “City shenanigans over Bersih 3.0”

by Dr. Chen Man Hin
DAP life advisor

BERSIH 3 will herald the Bersih Spring which will sweep throughout the country and bring about the changes to create a free, just and democratic multiracial, multilingual and multireligious society.

The people have long hungered for a new society where all Malaysians are equal, and have equal opportunities to be educated and to be prosperous.

The people will all be Malaysians who are equal under the Malaysian sun. There will be one people – who are all ketuanan rakyat, all equals whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans and others, allowing for Malays and the indigenous peoples to be the first among equals.

The Bersih Spring will promote unity and solidarity among the people. We shall be one and our political, economic and social progress will advance rapidly. We shall become one the main players of the new Asian Century.

It is therefore of the utmost importance that on April 28, all Malaysians must unite and gather together by the hundreds of thousands throughout the country and demand for clean, free and fair elections. Continue reading “Bersih 3 to herald Bersih Spring to bring about vital changes for an united progressive and prosperous Malaysia”

The Malaysian Insider
Apr 21, 2012

APRIL 17—My dearest son:

We all know that when taking care of a healthy child, the bare minimum required is proper food and shelter. And of course, where possible, lots of love and care.

When the child is sick, the bar of bare minimum is raised to include proper medication and tender care. In most cases, it is the usual Panadol, anti-histamine and cough syrup.

But if the child’s sickness is prolonged, the bar is raised again to include a doctor’s attention.

Any thing further than this and the child will need to be taken for diagnostic tests and observation which may even include hospitalisation and other extensive/aggressive medical attention.

Anything less and the child may run the risk of lifelong impaired health, or even death.

In every step of the way, the attending adult caregivers are duty- bound to properly raise the bar of proper and adequate response; failing which he/she is in danger of dereliction of duty as a responsible caregiver. Such an offence is grievous to natural justice.

Similarly, as responsible citizens of this country, to register ourselves to become voters and then to do the necessary in order to cast our votes on polling day is the bare minimum anyone of us can do. Continue reading “Beyond bare minimum — From a Reformasi Mum to her Boy Named Justice”

by Mok Chuang Lian
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 21, 2012

APRIL 21 – I do not have confidence in the Malaysian electoral system. I am not confident that my vote will count, and that my voice will be heard. In a genuine, open democracy, each vote has equal value – every vote counts.

There are currently 42,051 known dubious names in the electoral roll and further irregularities: 79,098 voters are registered at a mere 354 addresses. Although relatively small given the Malaysian voting age population, these numbers can make a huge difference in the outcome of elections. Marginal seats can swing very easily with small numbers of votes.

The Election Commission’s response to these questionable electoral roll figures has been unimpressive. The Chief of the Election Commission reportedly said that the Commission’s ‘hands were tied’ on cleaning up the electoral roll, and downplayed the importance of an accurate electoral roll.

For a democracy to function effectively there must be absolute faith in the electoral system, so that citizens will exercise their right to vote and make their voice heard. Continue reading “I am joining BERSIH 3.0 because I want my vote to count”

— Mohd Iqbal (loyarburok.com)
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 19, 2012

APRIL 19 — The Parliamentary Select Committee on Electoral Reforms (“PSC”) recently completed its report on the improvement and reform of the parliamentary process in Malaysia. This report was tabled and passed by the august House on April 2, 2012, alas, without any debate due to a commotion caused by the opposition during the proceedings. The main grievance of the opposition was that the Speaker had rejected their motion to table a minority report on the PSC. Sadly, despite various international precedents on this procedure of presenting a minority report, the Speaker decided to ignore this motion.

What perhaps started as a new hope for Malaysians when the establishment of the PSC was announced by the prime minister in August 2011 as part of his political transformation programme has turned out to be a huge disappointment. Immediately, the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) dismissed the report, inter alia, on the ground that only one out of their eight demands was addressed.

Bersih also announced that it will organise a sit-in protest on April 28,2012 across the country, and in various locations worldwide. The main venue for the sit-in protest will be at Dataran Merdeka with the title “Duduk Bantah”. Continue reading “To vote or not to vote?”