You can make a difference - Bersih's Mandeep urges huge turnout

GE14 | Bersih secretariat manager Mandeep Singh has called on Malaysians to turn up in droves on polling day.

Speaking to Malaysiakini, he said the ballot is the most powerful weapon entrusted in the hands of a citizen in a democratic nation.

“Those in power may attempt to shift the goalpost with the redelineation of electoral boundaries and fixing the polling dateon a working day to limit their opponents' chances of success.

“But none of these schemes can succeed if the people rise up and the voter turnout is huge.

“Bersih is impartial in its mission to ensure free and fair elections. But we will not sit back and see our country's democracy being turned into a farce,” he added.

Mandeep noted how massive voter turnouts had turned the tables in Sri Lanka and Myanmar.

“In Sri Lanka, the former president Mahindra Rajapaksa amended the constitution so that he can run for a third time as president. He confidently called for early polls in 2015. But what happened on Jan 8, 2015? The people removed him from office. How? By coming out to vote in large numbers.

“In Myanmar, before the 2015 election, its constitution was amended by the junta-led parliament specifically to disallow Aung San Suu Kyi from becoming president.

“But the people of Myanmar came out in big numbers to vote for Suu Kyi’s political party, the National League for Democracy (NLD). Now with the NLD camp dominating the parliament, they actually made her the de facto leader of the country,” he added.

In other words, Mandeep said duplicity cannot succeed if the people do not allow it to.

“So Malaysians must act We must come out to vote. You can make a difference,” he added.

This afternoon, the Election Commission announced that polling for the 14th general election would be held on May 9, which is a Wednesday.

This drew flak from the opposition and various quarters, who accused the EC of colluding with BN.

The polling date has also ignited speculation that BN and Umno are concerned about the possible voting pattern and therefore avoided holding the polls over the weekend.  -Mkini