Get EC Out Of Your Sight With Sincerity, PM told

Recently, the prime minister and Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman Najib Razak had announced that the currently tainted Elections Commission (EC) would be shifted out from the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister's Department and put under the watch of the parliament.

Asides from this move, the prime minister also mentioned that a special parliamentary committee which would comprise of members of parliament (MPs) from both side of the political divide would be selected to oversee and scrutinise the functions of the EC and its operations.

We applaud the move made by Najib to move the EC out from his ministry, by having it under the jurisdiction of the parliament. However, we are still doubtful of his moves. Why? Because, based on his previous pledges to repeal some repressive laws and to reform some of the worst performing agencies, what he did are getting rid of the old ones and replaced them with the new ones with the same old features on them. This is only like changing those tainted window curtains, when the windows and its frames are still the same.

Yes, Najib had also pledged that the special parliamentary committee would be a bipartisan panel which would comprise of MPs from both the government and the Opposition benches, but what we are concern now is what would be the composition of MPs for both side for this parliamentary committee? Would these MPs be able to perform effectively and not just looking on the "loyalty" to their respective political parties (BN and Pakatan Rakyat)? Can these MPs, especially of those from the BN perform in accordance to their sound, reasonable and professional judgements, instead of just toeing by the BN's political line?

Will the chairmanship of the parliamentary committee be rotated between the government and the Opposition for some tenure for the purpose of ensuring transparency and to prove that their checks and balance would further enhance the integrity and credibility of the EC effectively? There are still a lots of issues that our people are still in the doubt as there are still lack of any detail information on the actual framework of this upcoming parliamentary committee would take on.

Asides all these political commitment, there must be also a political will to carry out all these efforts. In doing this, the government should first instruct all the top brass in the EC to refrain from further making anymore statements or issuing any press conferences that are deemed to be politically pro-government, pro-BN and anti-Opposition, to be direct, these EC officials are currently behaving like politicians of the ruling party instead of a professional civil servant type.

Then, to enable the parliamentary committee to commence its work and order, the chairman, deputy chairman and all the commissioners of the EC must first tender their resignations en-bloc to enable the government and parliament to put forward and scrutinise the new appointees prior to taking up office. The problem here is, can all these necessary step been taken up as part of the major shake-up of the EC? Can the government gives its full commitment on such kind of "first step" towards reforming the entire EC's structures and its operational methods?

The people now are observing the government's every move into this subject with caution and doubts. In fact there is no total confidence yet onto this measure, unless the government could prove otherwise and demonstrate their sincerity.

So Najib, if you want our people to trust you, show to us that your moves are trustworthy of, otherwise there is no point of just showing us those new window curtains.