Najib claim need to amend Constitution to allow overseas Malaysians postal votes-blatant lie!

At a 2 day students summit PM Najib was reported to say that the Federal Constitution need to be amended to allow Malaysians working overseas to vote by postal votes. However the Election Commission itself had said that there is no law forbidding these overseas Malaysians to vote by postal votes -in fact the EC has been given a discretionary power to allow postal votes to anyone the EC deem fit! The EC itself has admitted that only the logistic barrier existed to stop overseas Malaysians from using the postal votes-no legal issue! Yet the PM claim that he was not able to allow it unless the opposition supported the BN to amend the Constitution!

If the report is correct he is just dropping some bull*&^%!

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UMNO was 2 votes away from retaking Kelantan in 2005-why didn’t they do it?

Recently UMNO/BN Chair Najib has been rebutting the Bersih’s criticism of unfair polls by putting up the little history in Kelantan in 2005 where UMNO was only 2 votes away from retaking Kelantan. He claimed that UMNO/BN could have come out with 3 votes if there were unfair polls. His story was however, as usual, a bad spin from the fact! What happened: In 2004 BN had its political tsunami-though it was never called that way. BN swept 92% of parliamentary seats where the Opposition only retain Kelantan state, with 3 seat majority. Come anther year one Assemblyman died-and PAS lost the seat by a small majority. Then there was only 1 seat majority left for PAS-including a seat, Kemuning, which was won in 2004 by a 2-vote majority! Why UMNO/BN didn’t try to `come out’ with 3 votes from somewhere? We need to know that during the nomination in 2004 the then UMNO chief Badawi and an Assemblyman in Kepala Batas constituency were caught without submitting their election expenses account from previous election! While he used his influence over EC then to allow him and his assemblyman candidate to run he had a problem that need solving after the poll.

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Bad journalist or blinkered journalism by Bernama?

The best of Bernama reporters are blinkered?

Bernama journalists try to do a more personal blogging style of reporting on the Bersih march-but their prejudices shown through their various unsubstantiated assertions which they try to pass as their `testimony’ and eye-witness accounts. Some openly aired prejudices are clear eg a journalist said she was scared of the rally turning violent because she has `seen’ such turning of event on TVs. Wonder which TV she watches or is it the imagined Tv in her head? Does the `Tv’ she watched show peaceful demonstrations that happen all over the world on a daily basis? Then another journalist said he/she saw some `detainees’ `try to be violent’ towards the police-in what ways? The serious allegation was left without substantiation! And it passed through Bernama editors’ standard of reporting! The fact that the reports took so long to come out now suggest that the reports may have been heavily edited, polished and doctored-in contrast to usual spontaneous blogging!

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A Sarawakian marcher’s view of Bersih go live

Garai in the middle of a Sarawakian contingent at Bersih rally

Garai Badin from Selangau and 11 other Sarawak community activists went to KL to attend the Bersih rally on July 9th and went back pretty satisfied with the experience. Garai recorded an interview which has now been uploaded to You Tube for public sharing of his thought.

The link to the 6min video is here

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EC get another thrashing at EC vs Bersih debate #2-should Attorney General debate Bersih next?

Asymmetry in the Bersih vs EC debate getting more glaring by the days!

The rematch between Bersih and Election Commission took place this afternoon with PROHAM, a human rights NGO, playing host. Minus the booing the EC’s speaker-Wan Ahmad still suffered a thrashing from Ambiga, showing the asymmetry between an unqualified Election administrator and a civil society legal heavyweight.  While contesting on whether the EC has jurisdiction over taking action on offenses under Election Offenses Act the EC claimed that they had been directed by the Attorney General to leave enforcement to MACC-which never charge anyone for vote buying, for a record!

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EO 6 has been released at 5.30pm, anti-EO campaign should continue

According to Heng Lung of SUARAM the EO 6 arrested for about a month from before the Bersih rally have all been released at 5.30pm from the Jinjang police station. Victory to the people! However the anti-EO should not stop. It should go on as there could be thousands who still languish in the Simpang Renggam detention center at this time.

The forum and candlelight vigil tonite will continue -but the simulataneous shaving protests is expected to be called off.

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Check your voter application now!

More new voters registered due to imminence of 13th GE-but the applicants should check if they are included in the official electoral roll as well as if they are registered at a polling centre nearest to their registered address. Finding out these vital info on the polling day won’t help your voting right!

The Election Commission registered 368,373 new voters between April and June this year.

The number comprised 290,665 new voters and 77,708 applications to change polling stations.

In a statement, the EC said the Additional Electoral Roll draft for the second quarter of this year would be displayed in 877 locations nationwide, including state EC offices, computerised post offices, government complexes/offices, district/land offices, district councils, municipalities, and multi-purpose/community halls, among others.

In this respect, those who have just registered or had registered to change polling stations are advised to check the draft.

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EO 6′s Dr Jeyakumar-the Sarawak connection

This is a testimony from a colleague of Dr Jeyakumar from Sarawak:

From Dr Francis HH Ngu

YB Dr Michael Jeyakumar is known to me when he was a junior officer at Sarawak General Hospital, where I was Acting Medical Superintendent (1983-1987).

Even then he was most outstanding as a Government Officer of uncommon social responsibility, providing patient service unflinchingly regardless of heavy workloads. Indeed he showed his concern for patients well beyond his immediate patient care responsibilities at SGH.

I recall that as a junior Medical Officer at SGH, he actively canvassed for :

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Indelible ink vs Biometric system: which is better?

There has been a lively debate on whether using indelible ink or biometric system will be more effective in curbing electoral frauds such as personation and multiple voting. I would like to put forward a few points here from my experience as an international election observer to dispel some myths around the issue.

Many electoral democracies in Asia have been moving towards multiple identification system to ensure voter identification is done right. Bangladesh and Philippines lead in using electoral rolls with photograph to provide easy identification of voters, on top of the usual identification card and name. As if this is not enough some countries eg Philippines require voters who have claimed their ballot to sign a receipt of the ballot to stop the same person or another person, from claiming a second ballot using the same identity. In these countries indelible ink is also used to add another layer of safeguard on voter identification, which can be utilised in the most challenging situations eg locations where there is no electricity. So the trend is towards multiple system of identification rather than relying on one supposedly sure-fire method.

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Dr Jeyakumar start hunger strike under EO detention!

KENYATAAN AKHBAR RANI – ISTERI DR. JEYAKUMAR DI IPOH, 2PM 28 Julai 2011

Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj melancarkan Mogok Lapar dalam tahanan ?

Apabila saya jumpa suami saya Dr Jeyakumar pada 11 pagi semalam, 27hb. Julai 2011, beliau suarakan perasaannya yang sangat hampa dan kecewa dengan pendirian polis dan kerajaan terhadap enam aktivis PSM yang ditahan di bawah EO sejak 2 Julai 2011.

Menurutnya, polis enggan berganjak dari posisi asal mereka walaupun PSM 6 telah bekerjasama penuh dan menjawab kesemua soalan yang ditanya semasa soalsiasat dijalankan. Walaupun polis tidak dapat sebarang bukti untuk menjustifikasikan pertahanan lanjutan, namun beliau pasti tempoh tahanan mereka akan dilanjutkan sebab polis dan kerajaan ada agenda sendiri dan mempunyai tujuan untuk memangsakan PSM6 .

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