Guan Eng: Protest rallies more effective than boycotts

Protest rallies against alleged election fraud will be more effective in urging polls reforms than the act of boycotting the swearing-in ceremonies of MPs on June 24, says Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

The DAP secretary-general reiterated that the party's 38 MPs will not boycott the session, but will instead use the legislative processes to press for electoral reforms.

This, Lim stressed, the party would do with particular adherence to the democratic principle of “one-person, one-vote, one-value”.

"Boycotting the swearing-in of MPs will not be seen as a 'symbolic gesture' or a bold step to protest against the stolen general election when Pakatan Rakyat can make the point more effectively with nationwide peaceful protest rallies," said Lim in a statement today.

"For those who commit electoral fraud, (they) will not be affected by a mere boycotting of a swearing-in ceremony as compared to the voices of the real people’s movement," added the Penang chief minister.

Lim was responding to the urging made by PKR Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin (left), who asked Pakatan leaders to consider boycotting the swearing-in ceremony of MPs as a "symbolic gesture".

Sim had asked the leaders to draw examples from India's Mahatma Gandhi and Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi who took similar "bold steps" to press for reforms in their countries.

Sim's suggestion came in the wake of DAP and PAS' decision not to carry out the boycott after a suggestion had been made for the move by PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim.

Lim said that instead of those steps, DAP would adopt a three-prong approach to press for electoral reforms and clean elections for a fair delineation of constituencies.

The approach includes challenging in courts those seats that BN won through "fraud, vote-buying and manipulating the voters list through phantom voters and Bangla no-citizens".

'Going by the political process'

DAP would also go by the political process of pressing for election reforms in legislative assemblies, civil campaigns and international fora, he added.

The party would comply with the people process of conducting mass movement campaigns - only where necessary - to press for clean, free and fair elections, he stressed.

"Both BN and the Election Commission (EC) must admit that this was the most unfair and dirtiest polls in history where even the promised indelible ink that was supposed to last for at least three days could be easily washed off almost immediately," Lim said.

"The present EC members must resign as they cannot be relied on to conduct a fair constituency delineation exercise."

Meanwhile, yet-to-be reappointed Parliament speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia (right) hadcautioned those considering the boycott that the federal constitution provided for automatic disqualification of any MP who does not take the oath of office without good reason, and that they would lose their seat after six months.

Following this, Lim has chided Pandikar, urging the latter to conduct parliamentary business impartially and should not partake or interfere in political matters. 

"It is most unbecoming of any speaker and he has no right to boycott any parliamentarian, or deliberately cause his or her disqualification by boycotting or refusing to swear him or her in.

"I hope that this is only a joke by Pandikar, or else there will be serious doubts on his intentions and impartiality when he presides over the Parliament," he added.