To avoid BN lip service to reforms, Pakatan wants in on Bersih meeting with King

Amid fears that Prime Minister Najib Razak might only pay lip-service to the electoral reforms demanded by free-and-fair elections watchdog body Bersih, Pakatan Rakyat's top leadership wants to be a part of the meeting with the King, stressing that a cleanup was essential if Malaysia was to progress.

Its request is not unreasonable given that it is the main challenger to Najib's BN coalition and stands to lose the most in the event of a skewed playing field.

The Pakatan leadership council will hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss the latest development in the Bersih 2.0 rally slated for July 9. PKR, PAS and DAP are likely to join in the Bersih request to the King for an audience, where both Pakatan and Bersih are expected to detail to the Ruler the shocking level of corruption in the country's notorious election system.

In addition, Pakatan is also expected to complain about the unprecedented crackdown launched by the Najib administration against their elected representatives, including an attempt by UMNO Youth motor-bikers to torch the PKR headquarters during the tussle over electoral reforms.

Pakatan is also expected to complain about the top police leaders, IGP Ismail Omar and his deputy Khalid Jaffar, for their excessive bulliying of Bersih activists and alleged blatant lack of neutrality in carrying out their duties.

Good faith and transparency

The final agenda to be spelt out in their request for the audience with the monarch will be thrashed out at the Wednesday meeting. Bersih is expected to detail their own agenda for the audience.

However, the common ground and the main focus will be on the electoral reforms Malaysia badly needs and how best to effect them and to ensure that Najib will really implement these in good faith and with transparency. Undeniably, there is fear the BN may just put up a show but leave the proposals unattended.

"These will discuss this thoroughly during the meeting, and hopefully we can arrange for an audience before Saturday when the rally is scheduled to take place," PKR deputy president Azmin Ali said at a press conference on Monday.

"We also want to present to the Agong all the evidence and proof that we have of fraud and flaws in our electoral system."

Hadi excited too

Meanwhile, PAS president Hadi Awang issued a statement that the Islamist party also wanted to clarify the "negative coverage" spread by the Najib administration against Bersih and Pakatan over the government-controlled media.

"As a result of this confusion, it has caused provocation by certain groups, giving the impression that the situation is now out of control to the point where the nation's laws are no longer respected by the authorities," Hadi said.

Hadi also added to the long list of long-standing grouses against the election system and the bias shown by the Election Commission.

Bersih is a coalition of 62 NGOs, which had planned a march to the Palace to hand over a memorandum of 8 election reforms that they want the BN to implement before the next general election.

The march was strongly opposed by the Najib administration which fears that the reformist undertone of such a rally could later spark a wave of people's uprisings in the country, especially from its traditional electorate - the Malays. Even this morning, Najib has insisted that there was nothing with the election system, refusing to negotiate or make any concessions to the reforms.

“If that so, how come we lost in five states in 2008 and now the Election Commission is studying the possibility on introducing the biometric system to counter accusation on phantom voters," Star reported him as saying.

“But it is strange that when they won, all quiet and no tales on phantom voters and when they felt that the election is near, this tales will resurface. So, the rally is not so much on rectifying the system but the motif is politics...to gain power undemocratically through street demonstration."

Najib should not dictate terms

Pakatan, on the other, has rushed to embrace the Bersih initiative which will surely benefit them. And to be fair, analysts also point out that such a cleanup would benefit the people the most because it ensures that each vote counted and the leaders they voted in got to win fair and square.

In a bid to regain the upperhand, Najib has rushed to announce that he would only allow the rally to be held in a stadium and not on the streets. However, the PM was immediately slammed for disrespecting the King's request for concilation by issuing an ultimatum.

"We have given our guarantee of a peaceful gathering to the authorities and the police, and freedom of assembly is also guaranteed by the constitution. There is no reason for Najib to dictate what activity we can engage in," Azmin chided Najib.

DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang also urged Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein to release all detainees including 6 Parti Sosialis Malaysia members who have been locked under the Emergency Ordinance Act, which allows for detention for indefinite periods of time without trial.

Up till now, some 200 arrests have been made, with the majority arrested for wearing yellow-coloured clothing. Yellow is the color adopted by the Bersih rally.

"The Bersih 2.0 rally is never meant to be a threat to any race, religion, class, gender or age and a “just and wise” government would never have allowed the situation to degenerate and descend into a national hysteria with the Home Minister and the Police fighting imaginary enemies and non-issues, like the revival of communism, the creation of a Christian Malaysia or funding and subversion by foreign powers," Kit Siang said in a statement.

- Malaysia Chronicle