As Hisham threatens, Pakatan vows to press on with Bersih Rally

Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein has given a serious warning that participants of the proposed Bersih 2.0 Rally on 9th July will face stern action.

The Home Minister was immediately accused of clamping down on democracy as this Bersih Rally is the voice of the people, who want to show the ruling BN government that they wish for free and fair elections.

But Hishammuddin warned that "street demonstrations instigated by DAP, PKR and PAS are not only inconveniencing the people but also fast becoming counter-productive to the opposition coalition". He also singled out PAS saying that this party in particular was resorting to its "old trick" as it was running out of ideas to maintain support for the party.

Malaysia Chronicle spoke to PAS MP for Tumpat Kamaruddin Jaffar for his comment on the issue.

"PAS has always highlighted and demanded that elections be free and fair. There must be complete transparency and no cheating by anyone. Most important of all the government officers under the Election Commission (EC) must be independent in running the elections," said Kamaruddin.

The only reform - advance polling!

According to the PAS leader, there is now a very great and urgent need to highlight to the public the serious need for free and fair elections as it will be a major issue in the coming General Election, expected to be held before year-end.

"For too long there has been the problem of phantom voters, transferring of voters' names and other mysterious shenanigans orchestrated by EC. The public needs to be aware of this as their votes can be stolen due to cheating done by phantom voters who voted on their behalf," said Kamaruddin.

"And if votes are stolen, it will not reflect the genuine choice of the voters."

PAS has also taken the EC to task for introducing 'advance voting’ in the 13th GE, a move it said was done without any discussion with Opposition leaders.

PAS secretary-general Mustafa Ali has voiced out that the new system is worse than the current controversial postal voting system as it is even less transparent.

In this advance voting system, the voters would vote one or two days before the actual polling date and their votes would be kept in a bag only to be counted during the actual polling day. What can happen to the bag of votes is anyone's guess?

"This is a 'tactic' to ensure BN's victory in the coming 13th General Election," Mustafa told Malaysia Chronicle.

He suggested that the votes should be counted immediately under the watch of polling and counting agents and the number of votes must be jotted down immediately on Form 14 to be signed by agents from both BN and Pakatan. This figure can then be merged with other votes on the actual polling day.

Rally must proceed

DAP Sekinchan assemblyman Ng Suee Lim is hoping the Bersih Rally will be well supported so that Prime Minister Najib Razak will realize the people were serious and take steps to avoid the same display of electoral fraud evident during the Sarawak state polls.

"We have a lot of evidence that the voting system is unfair. There is the Rela postal vote, the armed forces wives postal vote, and so on. As responsible citizens, we must let the BN Government know that we will not accept dirty and unfair tactics," said Ng.

So far, there have been no reforms to the electoral system, other than the controversial 'advance voting'.

Ng also asked why BN kept refusing to use indelible ink to mark the names of those who have voted as indelible ink would ensure that everyone got to vote only once.

"If BN is confident of victory, why are they afraid of such a basic step?" questioned Ng.

Pakatan leaders also vowed to ensure that the Bersih rally proceeded as planned. After all, it is a peaceful rally and a solidarity walk and there should be no reason why the police should try to clamp down on the people, they said.

If BN clams down on peaceful rallies, it just goes to show to the world that BN's talk of democracy and free and fair elections are just blatant lies!

PKR assemblyman for Simpang Pulai in Perak, Chan Ming Kai, advised Hishammuddin not to get "all fluffed up" if the BN was not guilty or trying to hide anything.

Chan was the PKR man who exposed the fact that in the state seat of Pangkor held by Perak BN Menteri Besar Zambry Kadir, there was an increase of about 5,669 suspicious names.

In state seats where BN's victory was slim, there has been an increase of suspicious names ranging from 200 plus to 1,100 plus and among these state seats were Kamunting, Temenggor, Pengkalan Hulu, Chenderiang and Sg Rapat.

"If the people are tired of 'our antics' as what the Home Minister claims, then he can rest assured that there will not be much support and it will be a failed event. He should just let the rally go on peacefully and see how much support we can get. If he wants to clampdown, it means he knows we can get good support," Chan told Malaysia Chronicle.

Malaysia Chronicle