Bersih proposes guidelines to prevent govt resource abuse in state polls

Bersih has proposed new guidelines to curb "incumbency advantage" abuse, urging the federal government to follow them during the state elections campaign period.

The electoral reform group stressed that the government has an upper hand over caretaker state governments by having access to resources to use for campaigning.

“It is clear that state governments are in caretaker mode and should not be using state resources to campaign or to make any major allocations, (but) it is less clear about the role of the federal government who are not in caretaker mode.

“While there are no laws that forbid a federal government from functioning during state elections, all parties should compete fairly so that voters are not unduly influenced by parties who have access to state resources and machinery,” said Bersih chairperson Thomas Fann (above) during an online press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

The proposed guidelines revolve around the “No to 3Cs” (condition, campaign, and candidates) principles which Bersih said can be used to regulate non-caretaker governments' activities. They are:

1. No conditions should be attached to the fulfillment of any announcements or allocations made to voters such as the parties or candidates winning in the upcoming election. Any commitments made by the federal government should be fulfilled regardless of the outcome of the state elections.

2. No campaign during official federal functions where references are made to the upcoming elections, names of parties or candidates are mentioned, and party symbols or flags are displayed. No allocations are to be made selectively for constituencies to help certain parties to wrest or retain such constituencies.

3. No candidates should be present in federal government functions unless they are also federal ministers themselves when special announcements or allocations are made.

Additionally, the group said the guidelines can be applied to non-caretaker governments during the federal elections.

Hold the government accountable

When discussing the guidelines’ long-term implementation, Fann emphasised that the key lies in ensuring that the voters are informed about the matter so they can hold the government accountable.

“They (politicians) are not afraid of Bersih but they are afraid of the voters. If the voters realise that this (abuse of incumbency advantage) is unfair, then the politicians will follow the guidelines,” he said.

Furthermore, Fann addressed a concern by netizens surrounding Bersih’s “silence” by assuring that the group was still monitoring the election activities closely.

However, he said the group preferred to not “attack” parties and politicians blindly without proper reasoning or the backing of the law.

“We don’t want to slam or criticise without explanation or without providing solutions.

“We have to think about the issue before going on social media to criticise anyone, not just the government,” he added. - Mkini