Boycotting By-election Unhealthy Development.
A non-governmental organisation says the move by two opposition parties to boycott the Batu Talam state by-election is an unhealthy development in Malaysia's politics and must be addressed promptly.Malaysians for Free and Fair Elections (Mafrel) chairman Abdul Malek Hussin said PAS and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) should not adopt this stand as it gave the impression that Malaysia did not have a democratically-elected government. "We don't want this boycott stand to continue till the next general election," he told Bernama today.
Malek, nevertheless, said the two parties' dissatisfaction over the Election Commission's (EC) ineffectiveness, leading to their boycott of the by-election, must be looked into seriously. "Issues raised by the parties on the electoral roll, postal votes and other matters involving the EC must be viewed in totality and not specifically during the Batu Talam by-election," he said.
He said Mafrel proposed immediate steps be taken including holding talks with all opposition parties on ways to improve the election process. "I've contacted the EC secretary (Datuk Kamarulzaman Mohd Noor) to convey our stand and suggestions. However, he suggested that we channel our proposals directly to EC chairman (Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman). We'll contact him as soon as possible," he said.
Pas deputy president Nasharudin Mat Isa said recently his party and PKR would boycott the Batu Talam by-election in protest against Rashid's "inconsistent and favouring the Barisan Nasional (BN) stand". He said the Opposition was also unhappy over the inaccurate and doubtful electoral roll and abuse of postal votes, rendering the election process non-transparent and prejudiced.
The by-election is held following the death of incumbent BN state assemblyman Datuk Tengku Paris Tengku Tengku Razlan, 66, due to lung and intestinal cancer on Dec 27.
The EC had set next Tuesday for nomination and Jan 28 for polling in the event of a contest. (Bernama)
***** The chairman of Mafrel does have a valid point. But then again so does the opposition, and its grouses against the Election Commission. Will this boycott lead to an unhealthy situation or will it get a strong message across to the government for the need of real electoral reforms?
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Labels: Malaysian Politics.
posted by The Malaysian. at 1/13/2007 12:51:00 PM
2 Comments:
UMNO Batu Talam would not be so happy. Less money from the UMNO to generate the "election machinery".
PAS' gave an analogy of Hamas boycotting the Palestinian polls, before eventually winning it later on, and this seems to be the model on which they are basing their decisions (at least what they have publicly stated - from Harakah).
I think it is this precedent that Mafrel is concerned about - equating the democratic process we have here (albeit in need of some tweaking) with the situation in Palestine. Shrewd politicking on PAS' part - create the impression that Malaysia is as lawless as the occupied territories, to further paint their picture of the incumbents as God-forsaken corrupt power-mongers, and themselves as saviors of the Ummah.
Not to be condescending, but many are gullible enough to buy this argument. I fear for the democratic process, truth be told. Granted there are a lot of discrepencies in the SPR rolls (like the Dead Voters reported by Aljazeera), but SPR's admission is something I happen to know firsthand (don't ask me how, it's an un-"Official" secret) - that the SPR is being run on really primative methodologies and systems in dire need of an overhaul. I mean, really, really, out of date methods of doing things.
Their mindset may be pointing in the right direction, but their physical infrastructure and the mindset of the gear-and-cog level of SPR are the showstoppers (so to speak) making it impossible to meet the demands of a modern democracy.
Perhaps the first thing that should be done is to shift the line of reporting, so that the SPR reports directly to Parliament, and not to the Executive. This would at least give back some credibility to the SPR, and allow it to be properly revamped, under the supervision of a Parliamentary select committee, which should consist of representation from both BN and the opposition. I'm simply applying Occam's Razor here - the correct solution is usually the most obvious one.
I have no doubt that there could very well have been manipulation in the past, but in fact the SPR is one of those time-warped departments that wants to be in the here and now, but are still stuck in the 60's, or similar pre-IT savvy era.
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