Wanted - suggestions from public on electoral reforms

The Electoral Reform Committee (ERC) has appealed to the public for suggestions on ways to improve the conduct of elections in the country.

Towards this, a series of public engagement sessions will be held in Putrajaya, Penang, Johor, Pahang, Sabah and Sarawak. The committee will also launch its own website where netizens will be able to post their ideas.

Speaking after its first public engagement session in Putrajaya today, ERC chairperson Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman (above) stressed the importance of implementing reforms that the rakyat agrees with.

“The people must give us feedback. We want to hear what they have to say about the (electoral) system we have now. We may know the weaknesses of the system and I myself have conducted elections before, but we still want the public to give us feedback,” he told a press conference.

Abdul Rashid was EC chairperson from 1992 to 2000.

The ERC was formed last August and has two years to propose to the cabinet recommendations for improving the present electoral system.

Abdul Rashid reiterated that the EC ought to be given the power to enforce election laws and be free from political interference.

“The EC must have full power to run elections. All the reforms are about power. If we decide to maintain the EC as a commission, it must be a body with full power.

“No one should be able to influence it, not even the party in power,” he said.

He also revealed the ERC was discussing ways to allow political parties to be registered and be governed by the EC rather than the present Registrar of Societies (ROS).

Report to be made public

They were also considering that the government provide funding for all political parties, be they in the government or the opposition.

“We are thinking that the government should assist political parties by providing a little funding for them. This is because in a democracy, the more parties, the better,” he said.

Abdul Rashid said the ERC’s work was well underway and they were on track to presenting their interim report to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad by October this year.

Asked if the final report would be made public, he argued that it must.

“Oh yes, it must be (made public). I have arranged so that we reveal all that we recommend to the government. This is as we want an electoral democracy on the same level as other advanced democracies,” he said.

A Bersatu supreme council member who contested the Kota Lama Kelantan state seat in the last elections, Abdul Rashid said the people ought to be thankful that the Pakatan Harapan government possessed the political will to improve the present electoral system.

“The whole nation must appreciate the fact that there is political will to change.

“There was none in the past,” he said. - Mkini