BERSIH 2.0 PRESS STATEMENT
17 February 2012
BERSIH 2.0 strongly urges the Prime Minister, Najib Tun Razak to clean up the electoral roll of some 200,000 dubious voters discovered by Mimos Berhad, before the next General Election.
There are more shocking facts in the 2008 elections:
· In 2008, against a turnout of 8.7 million in 2008, the popularity vote of BN was 52.2 percent, compared to 47.8 per cent, which means a 2.3 per cent margin could have a big impact on the election results.
· BN had won its 30 most marginal seats with a total margin of 27,222 votes .
· This means some 27,000 voters were the ones who delivered to BN a simple majority government.
Recently, there had been sudden increase in the number of voters in some areas of Selangor over a short period of time. For example, in Subang, there was a 35 per cent increase from 84,000 to 114,000 registered voters, and in Kota Raja, the increase was 29.5 per cent, while in Puchong, it was an increase of 25 per cent from its 2008 figures.
Many of these new increases in voters are transfers from other constituencies.
The findings of MIMOS Berhad only further reinforce the need to clean up the electoral roll, which the Election Commission had failed to implement.
These developments are unacceptable and both the Election Commission and the Parliamentary Select Committee for Electoral Reform (PSC) should immediately address these concerns.
A key reason why there is a need to have the indelible ink is because there are many police and military personnel voters who are multiplely registered. Hence, the EC exclusion of postal voters from the use of indelible ink is akin to undermining the measure to eliminate multiply voters.
This has totally cast doubts on the sincerity of the Election Commission to carry out its task to have clean and fair elections. It has also consistently put up blocks to electoral reforms by not fully addressing BERSIH 2.0 seven (7) other demands. For instance, its reluctance to accept oversea voters as legitimate voters, and not having a clear and transparent explanation on the process and criteria for advance voters and postal voters clearly shows the insincerity of the EC to ensure electoral reforms to be carried out.
BERSIH 2.0 campaign on JOM 100, which was launched recently, intends to encourage a 100 per cent voters’ turnout in the coming General Election. In the 2008 General Election, only 76 per cent of the total number of registered voters or 8.16 million voters exercised their right to vote for their representatives to Parliament. The fate of a democratic nation should be determined by all citizens.
BERSIH 2.0 calls on all concerned citizens to support the JOM 100 campaign as the future of this country is the responsibility of every citizen and we must rise to the occasion when our democratic rights are being taken from us.
Another police abuse of powers
The threat of police arrest without warrant against those who attend the recent January 09 peaceful assembly, was totally unnecessary, especially since the police had given prior approval for the assembly. The threat of arrest included BERSIH 2.0 Chairperson, Ambiga Sreenevasan, and Steering Committee members, Maria Chin Abdullah and Wong Chin Huat, who happened to be in Germany at that time. BERSIH 2.0 stressed that there was no major incident, except for three bomb blasts, which till today, the police has not made any arrest. The priority is of the police should be to carry out a full investigation against those who planted the bombs and not on civilians who were exercising their constitutional rights.
Salam BERSIH 2.0!
Jom mengundi!
Steering Committee
Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH 2.0)
The Steering Committee of BERSIH 2.0 comprises:
Dato’ Ambiga Sreenevasan (Co-Chairperson), Datuk A. Samad Said (Co-Chairperson), Ahmad Shukri Abdul Razab, Andrew Khoo, Arul Prakkash, Arumugam K., Dr Farouk Musa, Liau Kok Fah, Maria Chin Abdullah, Richard Y W Yeoh, Dr Subramaniam Pillay, Dato’ Dr Toh Kin Woon, Dr Wong Chin Huat, Dato’ Yeo Yang Poh and Zaid Kamaruddin.
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Maria Chin Abdullah
Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor (EMPOWER)
13 Lorong 4/48e, Petaling Jaya, Selangor
Malaysia
Tel: 603-77844977
Fax: 603-77844978
BERSIH 2.0:
Tel: 603-77723275
h/p: 0169670921
democracy4now
lucia
TP
sicnewsmirisite
timchoo
Let’s vote for??? Of course PR…
It is not likely the PM has the will nor the responsibility to ensure a clean and fair elections. On the contrary, GE 13 will be dirty and lowdown as BN will cling onto power. Bersih 3.0 must march to show that the Rakyat means business. Jom ubah!