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Bersih 2.0 demands election commissioners resign

Samad (left) said the EC has shown no interest in addressing electoral roll fraud despite being presented with evidence. — File pic

KUALA LUMPUR, April 12 — All election commissioners must resign immediately as they have compromised the integrity of the electoral roll by allowing fraud to continue unabated, Bersih 2.0 said today.

The election watchdog cited the failure of the Election Commission to report deaths on the electoral rolls in Sabak Bernam, Sungai Besar, Hulu Selangor and Tanjong Karang in the last quarter of 2011 despite the issuance of death certificates, as proof that fraud still continues.

Bersih 2.0 also pointed out other problems identified by the Malaysian Electoral Roll Analysis Project, such as double registration for 15,520 voters in Sabah and 8,585 in Sarawak, inconsistencies in gender, and addresses with more than 15 registered voters.

“It shows clearly that the Election Commission has failed in its constitutional duty to ensure a clean and fair election,” Datuk A. Samad Said told reporters at the Kuala Lumpur Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall here today.

The Bersih 2.0 co-chairman added that the EC’s refusal to recognise the legitimacy of overseas voters showed its insincerity in carrying out electoral reforms.

“To allow the present election commissioners to continue in their office will only bring about a dirty, unfair and undemocratic general election,” he said.

“Bersih 2.0 calls upon the election commissioners to resign with immediate effect so that they can be replaced with others who will act to ensure a clean free and fair election in [the] future.”

Bersih plans to hold a “sit-in” rally for free and fair elections on April 28 at Dataran Merdeka over what it says are inadequate measures mooted in the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) for electoral reforms.

Thousands thronged to the capital here in support of the group’s previous rally for free and fair elections on July 9 last year despite a police lockdown of the city.

The peaceful rally turned chaotic after the authorities who deployed large teams of riot police armed with tear gas and water cannons to disperse protestors.

Eager to avoid the political fallout that accompanied last year’s crackdown, the Najib administration has given the green light to Bersih 3.0 but want its organisers to negotiate with the police on a suitable location.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said earlier this week that the “sit-in” rally for free and fair elections, scheduled for this April 28 at Dataran Merdeka here, is not considered a “security issue”.

“The government does not see plans for Bersih 3.0 as a security issue and we are allowing them to have it,” he said.

But he stressed that in accordance with the spirit of the just-passed Peaceful Assembly Act 2011, specific locations could not be used for such rallies.

Under the Act, gatherings may also be held anywhere outside a 50m radius of a prohibited place as long as police are given 10 days’ advance notice.

The list of prohibited places includes dams, reservoirs, water catchment areas, water treatment plants, electricity generating stations, petrol stations, hospitals, fire stations, airports, railways, land public transport terminals, ports, canals, docks, wharves, piers, bridges, marinas, places of worship and kindergartens and schools.

St Mary’s Cathedral is just under 50m north of Dataran Merdeka, across Jalan Raja.

By: Anisah Shukry - TMI

Hari Keluarga Angkatan Amanah Merdeka (Selangor)


Hari Keluarga Angkatan Amanah Merdeka (Selangor) 

Tarikh: 8 April 2012 

Masa: 4.30pm 

Tempat: Horse Ranch, Tanamera Bt. 20, Jalan Kuala Selangor, Sungai Buloh (Berdekatan Penjara, Dibelakang Petronas) 

Dirasmikan Oleh: Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (5.30 pm) 

 

Menu

4.30pm - Teh Tarik & Currypuff 

6.00pm - Biryani Ayam 



Support for NEP coming from ‘captive minds’, says Ku Li

KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 — Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah resumed his attack on the New Economic Policy (NEP) today, stating that “captive minds” continue to support it despite Malaysia moving further from its objective of redistributing wealth through pro-Bumiputera policies.

The Umno veteran said there has been “no intellectual inquiry” into why “despite many years of implementing the NEP, inequitable distribution of income continues to plague the people” as “we have become incapable of devising an analytical method independent of current stereotypes about Malays, Chinese, Indians and others.”

Ku Li today said, “…The NEP…has produced results that are diametrically opposed to the original intention of bridging the gap between the haves and the have-nots.” — file pic

“If the doctor keeps on prescribing the same medicine which produces opposite results, then something must be wrong with the doctor, and something more serious must be wrong with the patient who keeps on trusting the same doctor.

“Our thinking is based completely on a racial world view when it comes to matters of politics, education, economics, planning, and so forth. Needless to say, we promote a racial world view that thrives on the policy of divide and rule,” the Kelantan prince said at a book launch in Ipoh this morning.

Tengku Razaleigh, popularly known as Ku Li, had in February said “as a former finance minister, let me emphasise that it was never the intention of the NEP to create an incubated class of Malay capitalists.”

His statement further fuelled scrutiny of former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s policies after the Najib administration decided to settle out of court the RM589 million debt owed by former Malaysia Airline System Bhd (MAS) chief Tan Sri Tajudin Ramli.

The settlement sum was undisclosed, prompting intense public criticism and attacks from the opposition over the right of taxpayers to know the amount of public funds recovered.

Tajudin, 65, had served as the airline’s executive chairman from 1994 to 2001 and was a poster boy of former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin’s now-discredited policy of nurturing a class of Malay corporate captains on government largesse during the Mahathir administration.

Ku Li, one of the greatest critics of the NEP and Dr Mahathir’s handling of the policy, had challenged the long-serving prime minister for leadership of Umno in 1987, which he subsequently lost by a narrow margin.

He said in his speech today that the country’s education system does “not encourage the moral and intellectual reform of the mind” resulting in a lack of debate on major issues such as good governance, corruption and rule of law.

“To this very day, the electorate has not understood the implications of the NEP which has produced results that are diametrically opposed to the original intention of bridging the gap between the haves and the have-nots. The longer we try the policy, the further we are from the original goal.

“The discrepancy between vision and reality has taken an alarming turn. It has gone far beyond economics into the realm of ethics and morality. In numerous instances it has taken the form of corruption and decadence which has pushed the economy further down the drain,” he said.

He said “wanton corruption and wasteful spending” had resulted in spiralling national debt that now amounts to RM456 billion or 53 per cent of the GDP, which “if we are not careful, it won’t take us long before we become another Greece.”