election rules, such as the BN using government machinery to campaign
but admitting to this unfair practises, and yet INSIST on 7 days of
campaigning is just utter nonsense and shows clearly that the EC is
completely biased. Anyone who believes that the EC is still fair must
be the most stupid human being and deserve the fate that Malaysia is
in at the moment, especially Sabah, the POOREST REGION ON EARTH.
What was the excuse for the 7 days campaigning period? PEACE!!!
During the 1969 riots, it was 42 days, but why reduce it to just 7
days. It does not even give time for the EC to prepare properly. It
shows clearly how dishonest the EC is and yet people still want to
vote for the BN that has allowed such an unfair election practise.
Are Malaysian such stupid and unjust people to have supported such a
corrupt and lying government?
The answer is that BN has used voters who can vote more than ONCE,
called GHOST VOTERS.
Aziz is so confident that there has never been any incident of a voter
voting more than once, EVER. He is so confident of this, as though he
is A GOD. If this is the case, he is already an INFIDEL, for sure.
Nobody knows everything for sure, except ALLAH.
There is only one sure way of ensuring that duplicate voting can be
stopped, using INDELIBLE INK. It was already bought at great expenses,
and suddenly withdrawn. Why was it? The explanation was that it was
against the constitution.
Strangely though, Aziz knows that the BN has been using government
machinery for its election machinery which is against the
constitution, and yet cannot do anything about it. So why should he be
bothered about using the INDELIBLE INK??? If someone really want to
challenge the results in a court of law, then let the court decide on
a case by case basis.
Now there is a promise from Mr. Aziz that biometric systems be
introduced to prevent multiple votings. What chance is there that it
will be carried out when Aziz already believes for SURE, like a GOD,
that there is no multiple votings occurring?
Sunday July 17, 2011
Beefing up the voting process
By SHAHANAAZ HABIB and RASHVINJEET S. BEDI
sunday@thestar.com.my
The Election Commission and the conduct of elections have come under
scrutiny recently. Here EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof
addresses some of the issues
Q: How has the interest in elections and the electoral process evolved
over the years?
A: In 2008, the number of registered voters was 10 mil while the
number of eligible voters not registered was 4.3mil which is quite
high.
But now the number not registered has dropped to 3.7mil and registered
voters has increased to 12 mil. So based on that indication, I can see
there is improvement in terms of interest to register as voters.
Secondly, EC has the details of voters on our website so anybody can
go to the website, key in their IC number to check if their status as
a voter is accurate. They can also check the status of family members
provided they know their IC numbers.
No hanky-panky: Abdul Aziz is convinced the electoral process in
Malaysia is fair.
If you don't have a computer, you can telephone to find out, or sms or
email for an almost immediate response.In the first 15 days in July,
19,000 have checked their details and polling centres. Usually the
number is not that high.
Q: Can I check if people I don't know are registered as voters at my
address because I wouldn't know their IC number?
A: We are in the process of putting the complete address on the
website. Sometimes like in (PKR deputy president) Azmin Ali's case
(who found four Chinese voters registered as voters at his mother's
address), addresses are very similar. Azmin's mother stays in 1A
Kampong Klang Gate Baru but there is also a 1A Jalan Genting Klang
Gate close by which is a Chinese house with the same postal code.
There was a slip up when we put the locality because the addresses are
so similar. According to Azmin's sister, even today, letters meant for
the Chinese house are mistakenly sent to their house and letters for
Azmin's mother's house get wrongly sent to Chinese family's house
because of the similarity of address.
Q: But doesn't this show that mistakes like this happen?
A: All these happened before July 16, 2002 where anybody can register
anybody at any address back then. I can bring 20 others to register
and the officer will ask them what address they want to use and
register them as voters at that particular address. That resulted in
some addresses having 20 or 30 registered voters. Sometimes it is also
because the house was rented out (and tenants used the rented house
address to register as voters).
There was this one address in Penang a no 1155, where 88 people used
that address to register as voters. When we checked, we found it is a
squatter area with only one legal shop house which is the no 1155 so
everyone who lived in the area used that address.
This is not something planned by EC that made many people stay in one
house or have the same address but it happened.
After July 16 2002, they can't do that anymore because they have to
use the address on their IC. One problem is many Malaysians don't live
at the address stated in their IC. Under the constitution, the place
you cast your vote should be the place where you live. If I live in
Shah Alam, I shouldn't go back to Penang or my hometown to vote.
I estimate about 30 to 40% of our voters live somewhere else but vote
somewhere else.
I have no power to force them to vote where they live. The most I can
do is explain and persuade them to change the address with the
National Registration Department (NRD). This is not hard to do. All
they need to do is bring their utility bill to show where they are
staying and the change of address will be made.
Q: But sometimes people feel attachment to their hometown and want to
go back to cast their vote. Surely that is okay?
A: That shouldn't be. Under the NRD law, if you live in one particular
area more than 3 months, you should change your address. Once you
change your address, you tell EC. We don't it automatically.
You know why? Because we don't want it to be abused and misused. So an
individual should do it by himself by filling in the Borang A' . We
don't want the situation to be like before 2002 where anybody can
register anybody and anybody can change the address of anybody.
Q: What is the problem of people voting somewhere else?
A: No problem but people say these are phantom voters. That is the
perception they create. Both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat say
there are phantom voters on the electoral roll. For example, in the
Permatang Pasir by-election, there were accusations there are 3,000
phantom voters. But the accusers cannot name these people or trace
them. When we checked, these people are not phantom voters but legally
registered voters. When they moved somewhere else, they didn't change
their address and didn't inform EC. If they don't change the address
or inform us of the change, how would we know?
Q: People move to the city to cari makan but ultimately they want to
return to their hometown to retire so the attachment is still strong
with where they come from and they want to vote there?
A: But the law is law. You can't put sentiment there. The only thing
here is that we don't enforce that law. If there is any election or by-
election, there are massive traffic jams back to the state where
people go back to vote.
Q: Why is it so dififcult to clean the electoral roll?
A: Under the law, EC can't clean information of a voter such as
changing the address, name, gender, status of citizenship without his
consent. Those changes must be done by the voter himself. He has to
fill up the changes in Borang A', sign it and submit the form. And if
people die and don't inform the National Registration Department
(NRD), how would we know they are are no longer around? If somebody is
poor and dies without property or assets, the next of kin doesn't
bother to let NRD know of the death.
If they inform NRD, we automatically will get to know because we are
work very closely with the NRD. If a relative of a dead person doesn't
report to NRD, NRD can't update the information. When I was the
permanent secretary of Home Ministry, I asked the NRD DG at that time
to cut out the names of people aged 150 and above but he told me under
the law he can't do that because NRD needs a report of the death.
But I said come on lah use common sense'. If the person is supposed to
be 150 surely he is already dead. Now, they do remove those aged 150,
140, 130, 120. But when it comes to about 110 NRD has to be careful
because these people might still be alive.
There were cases where based on NRD information, we deleted the
voter's name from list but on polling day they came who said I am
dead?'.
It happened to even the wife of a former minister. Tan Sri Leo
Moggie's wife kena. You know why that happens? Because there are
thousands with the same or similar names.
There are 28 Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof spelt exactly like my name and I
haven't even included those who go by Aziz Yusof, Abdul Aziz Yusof. So
imagine how many Aminahs or Hasnahs there are.
Sometimes with the elderly, we tried looking for the person but the
home is no longer there it might have become a petrol station and no
one in the area knows where the person is.
So we depend very much on a relative to report a death to the NRD and
for that information to come to us. Do not confuse this with the
burial permit which is issued by the police. A burial permit is not a
death certificate. It would be ideal if the police would work with NRD
on deaths.
Q: How clean is the electoral roll?
A: It's difficult to give a percentage. I can't say it's 80 or 90%
percent. I admit the electoral roll is not perfect and that's why we
always display the electoral roll so that people can check the names.
It's transparent. They can see the information online, phone us, sms
or email for an almost immediate response. I dare not give the
percentage because I don't know if the detail of each and everyone
registered voter is correct. Typically Malaysians like to wait till
the last minute to check their details.
Q: A court hearing the election petition on the Likas 1999 election
declared it null and void because there were illegal immigrants and
those convicted of IC fraud on the electoral roll yet in the 2004
election, those names are still on the roll? Why wasn't that cleaned?
A: Really? I really do not know about that. If the IC is all fake,
sure we have to get rid of those names. Because once we get the
details, we check with NRD whether the names are there or not. If NRD
says the name is there and the IC is genuine, we have to retain it.
But if we find the IC is not genuine and the IC number is not correct
and belongs to somebody else belongs to somebody else, then the name
will have to be dropped.
Q: In Sabah, there are cases where illegal immigrants are given an IC
to vote, paid some money and after they vote return the IC to the
party which gave it to them which would use it again?
A: I do not know about this.I wouldn't know how these people get the
names and IC numbers because they have to be working closely with NRD.
If that happens, this means these people are impersonating someone
else. That's why we need the biometric system because then they can't
get away with such a thing. Sometimes these are just allegations and
when we ask for evidence and check, the ICs are genuine.
Q: What do you say to those who say that EC is in cahoots with NRD to
make sure that the ruling party wins the elections?
A: I don't agree. The role of EC is to register voters. To register
with us, they must have genuine IC. Before we confirm the application,
we check with NRD's agency link up system (alis) if the the applicant
is genuine. If it's not genuine, we reject it. Even after everything
is confirmed, we display the names in public for one week in over
1,000 places. If there are objections, we will have a public hearing
where we call the one who objected and the person being objected.
Those who live there can complain I have never see this name, this
address or person in this area'.
Q: In 2007, blogger and journalist Ahiruddin Atan aka Rocky's Bru who
has never registered as a voter or voted in an election found his name
and IC as a registered voter with an address in Perak in the electoral
roll when he has never even lived there. How do such things happen?
A: Maybe somebody used his IC and his particulars. To encourage people
to register as new voters, EC has appointed assistant registrars to
help. We are the only EC in the world that appoints political parties
to assist us in registering new voters.
We appoint an average of 2 assistant registrars for each state seat.
Because they have an interest, they work very hard to register new
voters.
They fill up the forms, get them signed and submit these to us. But
whether that application is approved will depend on the EC. And we
will check with NRD if the information is correct.
About 40% of the applications at state level are not genuine. The
registered voters are dead, underaged or are already registered
voters. A lot of people simply register. Even NGOs too do this. It is
tiring for my director to check and re-check. We pay RM1 for each
clean confirmed registration so these people think they can just fill
up and submit the forms and get the money.
Q:Q: Some argue that EC shouldn't franchise voter registration because
this open the system to abuse?
A: That is why it takes 3 months to verify the registration and then a
month and a half to display it.
The fact is political parties help us a lot in registering new voters.
They make up the highest number compared to government departments,
compared to universities, youth organisations, NGOs. EC does voter
registration ourselves through our office, through our outreach
programme but the response is not very good.
We also go for Jom Heboh, and sometimes political parties ask us to
come to register voters and we do.
But it is difficult for people to come forward to register as voters.
This has to do with attitude.
They ask themselves what benefit they get by registering as a voter.
They ask what happens to them if they don't register and when they
find out no action is taken they leave it as it is.
Only those who really love the country and would like to choose their
own leaders would register as voters voluntarily.
That is why we make the process easy and simple. They can go to the
post office, youth bodies, universities, colleges, government
departments, NGOs and political parties.
When I mention in the EC seminars that political parties help us
register voters, other EC are astounded.
But I am very happy with it because although my officers have to work
very hard to get all the details but in terms of numbers, we get the
highest numbers from political parties.
For May, 52% which is more than half of the new registration came from
political parties.
We have to get rid of the names which are not genuine.
That can be quite tedious. But even after doing that, they are still
the highest. The second is the post office, then our office counters,
followed by government department, NGOs, youth organisation etc.
If they submit 1,000 names and after we clean up and verify, we find
only 600 names are genuine new voters, then we pay them RM600 which is
RM1 for every clean genuine new voter.
Q: In every election, there are complaints from voters they have been
transferred to another voting constituency. EC has said nobody has the
power to change address except for the voter himself but how come this
still keeps happening?
A: Legally speaking, nobody can change your address. But sometimes
there is a wrong locality. For example, a voter might think he stays
in a particular constituency but in actual case the area he lives in
falls under another constituency.
For example in the Hulu Selangor by-election, there was a group of
people who thought they stay in Hulu Selangor.
They have voted in Hulu Selangor for a number of elections but when we
use Geographic Information System (GIS) which is a computerised
system, they do not come under that constituency. In the past, rivers
or roads were used for demarcation but when we introduced GIS, we
discovered in terms of locality these voters are in the wrong place.
For example, a voter might live in Gombak or Selayang and pay his
water bill there but he is a voter in Hulu Selangor. That's wrong.
We find there are a number of such cases and EC has the power to
correct these errors. There are a lot of this in Perak, Penang and
Malacca.
And by correcting the error, the person might end up as a voter in a
different constituency.
But because this is very sensitive, the EC has decided to hold off
correcting these errors until after the next redelineation exercise.
The EC does not need to do the redelineation immediately. Once we
start on the redelineation, we have to complete it within two years.
But with next general elections having to be called less than 2 years
time, we have decided to wait until after elections to do the
redelienation. Because if we start to do the redelineation and the PM
decides to ask for parliament to be dissolved and for election, then
we are caught. If the correction still means that the person votes in
the same constituency but is in a different polling centre, then we
will go ahead with the correction, and inform the political leaders,
the kampong leaders and the affected voters.
Q: In 2007 Bersih asked for electoral reforms. Fast forward 4 years
later, Bersih is still asking for electoral reform. Why is EC so slow
to act?
A: It is not easy to clean the electoral roll. EC can't change the
particulars of any voter so we have to depend entirely on voters to
come forward and change whatever wrong information.
They can't change the address online because we are afraid it will be
misused so they have to be physically present at the EC counters or
the post office to make the change.
Bersih, tell me how else to clean the roll.
I told (Bersih 2.0 chairman) Datuk S. Ambiga when we met last year to
help us encourage people to register and to ask voters to update their
information. She wanted to see me again in March and April but because
of by-elections and the Sarawak state elections, we were very busy. In
this parliamentary term, there have been 16 by-elections.
And when Bersih comes to meet us, it is not just two or three people
who show up but a whole group of them. So I too have to bring a number
of senior officers and panel members to attend the meeting. So I asked
them to hold on until after the Sarawak state elections but they
seemed to think that the general election is so close and decided to
go to the streets to demonstrate.
Q: The Sarawak state election was months ago but the Bersih rally was
on July 9, why didn't you meet them after the elections?
A: Because we didn't get any request from them. They were planning
demonstrations.
Q: It's been 4 years since their demand for electoral reforms and you
mention cleaning up the roll, what about Bersih's other seven demands?
A: When Bersih 2.0 came to see me at the end of last year, they
brought 17 demands. We discussed and I explained in detail why
automatic registration of voters can't be done and why we can't reduce
the voting age to 18 because all this is subject to amendments of the
federal constitution. I explained and they reduced the demands from 17
to 8. About 60% of the demands were gone in one meeting.
Out of the eight demands put up by Bersih 2.0, the last four (free and
fair media, reforming public institutions, getting rid of dirty
politics and corruption) do not come under EC.
Q: You say dirty politics and corruption do not come under EC but
Section 10 of the Election Offence Act does have give powers to EC to
act against the bribing of voters?
A: Under the act, we can only report. We can't investigate or arrest.
When people report to us, we report this to the Malaysian Anti-
Corruption Commission (MACC) or the police. To investigate, we need a
lot of people trained in the area. But our expertise is registration
of voters, carrying out elections and redelineation of election
boundaries. How can we investigate corruption?
People these days are very smart and it is not easy to prove that
someone is corrupt. Even MACC is often disappointed.
They investigate a matter so long, gather evidence and witnesses but
when it gets to court, the case is thrown out.
We report if we find there is a transfer of cash from one person to
another and we check at times and we find the recipient isn't even a
voter.
In the Hulu Selangor by-election, Barisan made announcements of
projects and (the PKR's candidate who lost) Datuk Zaid Ibrahim filed
an election petition to have the election declared null and void for
corruption. But when it came to court, the case was kicked out. It
might seem like bribery but to prove in court is not easy. And you are
asking us the EC to handle this? Cannot! This should be done by
experts. But even experts have a tough time.
Q: So what kind of offences can EC act on under the Election Offences
Act? Dirty politics?
A: What is dirty politics? The only person that can clean politics are
politicians. Who makes politics dirty? The politicians.
Because to them, the most important thing is to change the voters'
perception. So politicians will say or do anything to get people to
believe them. How do you control this?
The only ones who can control it is the politicians themselves.
Q: What about corruption?
A: I don't like corruption. Whoever wins, if there is proof he won by
corruption, the results will be declared invalid. But you can't expect
EC to enforce this. We don't have an enforcement wing to do this. So
we depend on the MACC on matters with corruption because they are
trained and equipped. And they mingle around with EC during elections.
If there is a corruption matter reported to us, we will report it to
MACC.
Q: If EC knows on the ground that a candidate had spent more than
maximum expenditure allowed for an election, what can EC do?
A: When we ask, they say that is not the candidate expenditure because
it is the party that is paying for it. So what can you do? They throw
a dinner and say it is the party's expense.
What a political party can do is bring this up to the court in an
election petition
Q: What do you think of a caretaker government using government
machinery and state facilities to campaign?
A: They can't do that. They can't use government helicopters or
government cars for campaign.
We mentioned that when we meet the party leaders, candidates and party
agents and the code of ethics and the do's and don't during elections.
Politicians are politicians. In front of me, they say "okay, no
problem Tan Sri" but that very night they do it anyway.
Both sides are the same because they want to influence the voters as
much as possible.
If they adhere to the rules of EC, code of ethics, and the
instructions of the police, politics would be very clean.
Q: If parliament is dissolved, does this mean the caretaker PM can't
use the government helicopter to go around?
A: He can. His official duties as Prime Minister will still have to go
on but what I meant is that ministers when it is not an official
function, they can't use the government facilities in campaigning.
That would be wrong. If someone complains, the matter can be brought
to court and if there are facts, it is left to the court decide.
Q: But when a minister goes and announces a project, he would claim he
is doing it in his official capacity as minister but surely that is
campaigning?
A: For example, the Finance Minister announces a few million for a
flood eradication problem in Sungai Sibu. Is that corruption? I don't
know because it is uncertain if the one who hears it and benefits is a
voter. Even if he is voter, it still doesn't mean he will
automatically vote for the party that offers this.
For the Sarawak election, there were some who wanted to offer air
fares back to Sarawak to voters so that they will cast their vote and
I said no that is corruption'.
But my officer said how can you say it's corruption because we use the
political parties' vehicles to get voters from their homes to the
polling centre'. But I said that is small but the officer said it was
the same thing.
So I called by the MACC head to ask if it was corruption and he said
if a person gave a voter money to pay for the ticket to go home and
insists that the voter should vote for a particular party and provide
proof that he voted that way and the voter obliges, that is
corruption. But if the person gives the voter money to fly back to
Sarawak to carry out his duty as a voter and the voter is free to
choose whoever he want, that is not corruption.
And don't forget one's vote is secret. If someone gives money and asks
a voter to vote for a particular party and the matter goes to court
and the voter admits to taking the money but insists that he voted for
the other party and not the one that he was asked to vote for - is
that corruption?
Q: Doesn't EC bear responsibility for the July 9 street demonstration
because people took to the streets only because EC was dragging its
feet on electoral reform?
A: That is perception. Like I said, four of the eight demands do not
fall under EC. With regards to free and fair elections, I can't
dictate to the media whom they should give coverage to. I did meet the
owners of the mainstream media and I did ask them to give media space
to the opposition. Then Barisan complains that the alternative media
focuses on only the opposition and doesn't give Barisan space.
If I have authority under the law, I can force but I don't have that.
So who am I to tell the media?
Persuasion doesn't work. It is up to shareholders and owners of the
newspapers.
In comparison, in the Philippines during the elections, the police,
army, Attorney-General, the media all come under under the EC
chairman. Q: So EC is a toothless tiger?
A: We have to ask other agencies to assist us.
Q: Can EC can ask parliament to amend the Federal Constitution to
allow indelible ink to be used in voting?
A: I have merisik (put feelers out). I know for a fact if we bring
this matter up, one group of MPs will oppose it and we will not be
able to get the two-thirds majority to change the constitution. So
because of that, we proposed something else instead, the biometric
system, which is more reliable and hi tech and doesn't require
amending the constituition.
And it can get rid of the problem of phantom voters. You scan your
thumbprint, it verifies if you are the genuine holder of the IC and
once you have voted, you can't vote anywhere else.
And if you bring someone else's IC, it won't match the thumb print in
the biometric machine.
Q: There are tens of thousand polling stations so won't you need tens
of thousands of biometric machines for elections which would be
expensive and not practical?
A: We can keep some of the machines for by-elections. The rest can be
handed over to the immigration and Home Ministry to use. But we
haven't finalised using biometric. This is our plan. I still think
it's the best way to get rid of phantom voters.
Q: If EC can't get the biometric system in place in time for the next
general election what system can be put in place to make sure a voter
doesn't vote twice?
A: No one has voted twice in an election. There has never been any
election petition which claims that voters voted more than once. They
want to create perception that EC cannot be trusted. That's all. Based
on the 16 by-elections (since the 2008 general election), I conclude
that if voters like a candidate or a party that person will win the
elections even if the other side gives out aid and development
projects.
One example is Bagan Pinang by-election, Barisan put Tan Sri Isa Samad
to challenge the PAS candidate and PAS did everything to win the seat.
But the voters, regardless of race, like Tan Sri Isa and he won the
votes in all streams.
Q: What about reform of postal votes?
A: There make up only 200,000 of the 12 mil voters. For postal voters,
the system is very rigid because they have to use three envelopes so
there are many technical mistakes that can happen. For the Hulu
Selangor election, 150 postal votes were rejected on technical
grounds.
We are planning on advance voting where we get the postal voters to
gather in one area and allow them advance voting three days before
polling day.
Those at the borders where they can't have advance voting because they
are manning the borders, we will allow postal votes on polling day
itself.
Bersih does not want special postal votes for the army and police but
the police and armed forces are of the view that on polling day, they
are deployed all over the country to maintain security and public
order. I can't force them to go to the polling booth to vote. I have
to listen because these concern security matters.
We are also cleaning up the postal votes because some soldiers and
police have been transferred.
Postal votes also do not have such a significant impact. There are
only 200,000 which makes up only 1.8% of the total votes.
The opposition is so worried about postal votes but in 19 seats with a
lot of postal votes, the opposition won 14 of the 19 seats. So it
doesn't mean that the opposition loses a seat because of postal votes.
Generally the postal votes do go to Barisan but in Permatang Pauh,
1,367 of the postal votes went to PKR while the Barisan got only
1,002.
They accuse EC of being not democratic and helping Barisan but look at
KL, the opposition won 10 out of 11 parliament seats.
Q: EC is proposing that postal votes be cast 3 days in advance but
what about suspicion that these ballot boxes can be stuffed?
A: The political parties' agents are there to monitor the balloting.
When the polling ends, they count how many ballot papers have been
cast and they sign off and sealthe ballot box after that. And it is
impossible to cheat or even add an extra ballot paper. If the party
agent wants to sit in the lockup and sleep with the ballot box to
guard it until it is taken to be counted, he is free to do that.
As for the counting of votes, it is all done at the polling centre on
election day. If there is a difference of less than 4% in the margin,
the loser can ask for a recount. But this has to be done at the
counting centre but not after the result has been sent to the tally
centre. In the Sibu and Manek Urai by- elections, Barisan asked for a
recount, I said sorry because it was already at tally centre.' It was
the same with the Senadin by-election when PKR asked for a recount and
this was denied. As I said recounting must be done at the polling
centre and not at the tallying centre.
Q: If a Malaysian working abroad is not allowed to cast his vote while
civil servants, their spouses, soldiers working abroad and Malaysians
full time students in overseas universities are, isn't that denying
the right of some to vote?
A: We are quite open and we look at that as something that can improve
integrity but the problem is overseas it is very difficult to monitor
where they live and stay. Sometimes the ballot paper gets to them only
after the elections because we allow candidates to withdraw late. But
the impact of overseas postal votes is very insignificant because it
is a very small number.
Q: What do you think of a 21 days campaigning period?
A: We are considering that. 14 days might not be enough but don't tie
us down to 21 days. In the 1969 riots, there was seven weeks of
campaigning and many racial and religious issues close to the heart
came up. Even senior leaders of some of the parties asking for 21 days
have come and tell me not to give 21 days because it is very tiring
and costly.I am looking at a possible 15 days of campaigning.
Q: What do you say to perception that EC takes orders from the ruling
party?
A: That's only perception and it's not true. The PM does not even call
me. If there are any calls from the ruling party, it is with regards
to suggestions and anyone can make suggestions.
Q: What about an independent commission appointing those who head EC
so that it is perceived as being truly independent?
A: I have no objections to that. If people don't like me, the King can
get rid of me. I am waiting for the memorandum to be handed to the
King. But the PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu has already challenged
me saying Bersih would take to the streets again if EC doesn't agree
to its 8 electoral reforms demands. They did a street demonstration
because they wanted to submit the memorandum to the King and they
haven't handed it over to the King. The King is the one who appoints
EC and the panel and he has the right to call us and I am waiting for
that. My conscience is clear.
Q: Should there be a proportional representation system in election?
A: Ours is the first past the post system and if there is any change
to the proportional system it is the government that should change it.
I just came from Thailand. I saw the combination of both. I think
proportional representation is a good idea where if the party gets 20%
of the votes that would be translated into seats and it has a voice in
parliament. We are looking into this. For the first past post, if you
win by one vote, you take everything.
Q: Aren't free and fair election something good?
A: Yes but are the elections here not free and fair? Aren't Malaysians
free to vote whom ever they want. There are many seats where Barisan
has not won for years.
In KL, 10 out of 11 seats parliamentary seats were won by the
opposition. As for the 16 by-elections, Barisan won eight and the
opposition won 8.
In the Sarawak state elections, DAP got a 100% increase in the number
of seats it won and PKR a 200% increase.
So does it mean that only if the opposition wins that the election is
free and fair? The opposition parties praise us sky high when they win
a by election or a seat. But when they lose, they always look for an
excuse and a scapegoat.
I think elections in Malaysia is fair. Whoever the voter likes during
that time will win.
In 2008, the situation is different from the coming election. The 1999
election result was different from the 2004 general election result.
In 2004 election, the results for Barisan under the then Prime
Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was different from the 2008
election which also under Abdullah. Doesn't this show that elections
are fair?
If people like the opposition in an election, they will win and vice
versa. And if people don't like a candidate, that candidate will lose.
It's simple as that.
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