PETALING JAYA (June 18): The first session of the 13th Parliament which convenes on June 24 is expected to see a number of Private Members' Bills on electoral reform and custodial deaths tabled.
Pakatan Rakyat parliamentarians who have been relentless in their push for electoral changes have lined up a series of Private Members' Bills on matters such reforming the Election Commission (EC) and cleaning up the electoral role.
Second-term Klang MP Charles Santiago is expected to table a bill calling for the removal of Section 9A of the Elections Act 1958 which stipulates that no changes can be made to the electoral roll after it has been gazetted.
The provision was introduced after an Election Court invalidated the 1999 general election result for the Likas state seat following an election petition filed by Parti Bersekutu's Datuk Harris Mohd Salleh.
The court ruled in favour of Harris after it was proven that the EC did not hold a public inquiry after a voter filed an official objection over the inclusion of "questionable" names in the electoral roll, and the police had not investigated reports lodged against the dubious names.
"It is related to the case we took up against the EC but the case was thrown out because of Section 9A," Charles toldfz.com, referring to the case of Dinesh Siva Kumar.
About one month prior to GE13 on May 5, ajudicial reviewwas filed at the Shah Alam High Court by Dinesh to remove his name from the electoral roll as he had never applied to be a voter.
"We wanted to prove that people who didn't apply to become voters were in the gazetted electoral role but after (Tun Dr) Mahathir (Mohamad) changed the law in 2001 and included Section 9A - the names are there to stay," said Charles.
Charles said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was aware of the need for electoral reform
"But when Najib talks of reform of the EC by putting in under the purview of Parliament, it puts its legitimacy into question – he recognises that there is a problem but he thinks the solution is to put the EC under Parliament.
"But this is not enough. Parliament must withdraw Section 9A to give the commissioners powers to remove doubtful names… but the current commissioners must also go," he stressed.
Charles said his Private Member's Bill would be ready for inclusion in the order paper midway through the first sitting which is expected to continue until mid-July.
PKR vice-president and Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar has also announced her intention of tabling a series of Private Members' Bills.
Nurul Izzah is looking into tabling bills on judicial independence, electoral reform, freedom of information and good governance.
But considering the short period of time allocated for the bills to be tabled and debated, she is currently considering three most pertinent ones, said her political secretary Fahmi Fadzil.
They focus on abolishing the Sedition Act 1949, and to be replaced with an Anti-Discrimination Act, repeal of the Printing Presses and Publication Act 1984 and amendment to the Petroleum Development Act 1994 to force national oil company Petronas to subject its finances to parliamentary scrutiny.
During the course of the Parliament session, the MP will also be proposing to amend Article 121(1) of the Federal Constitution to return power to the courts instead of being subservient to Parliament, and to amend the Judicial Commissions Act accordingly.
Nurl Izzah will also push for automatic voter registration to be in tandem with the National Registration Department's records.
With electoral boundary redrawing exercise due at the end of the year, Nurul Izzah will propose that the EC realigns the borders to reflect a more balanced voter population ratio of 70:30 (urban:ratio).
Apart from these, Nurul Izzah is also looking into introducing a freedom of information law – which had been passed in the state legislations in Selangor and Penang – to be enforced at the federal level to ensure transparent governance.
She also seeks the removal of a clause in the Official Secrets Act 1972 that gives arbitrary powers to ministers to label any document as classified, a revamp of the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA) and the re-enactment of local council elections.
Meanwhile, DAP's Ipoh Barat MP M Kulasegaran, along with Nurul Izzah, will press for the setting up of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), which had been recommended by a royal commission of inquiry in 2005 to clean up the police force.
The recommendation was shelved after the police voiced opposition, following which the government mooted the Enforcement Agencies Integrity Commission (EAIC).
However, with the increasing number of custodial deaths, Pakatan Rakyat will push for the enactment to put the police force under scrutiny, said Kulasegaran.
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