Extracted from Malaysiakini

Revamp EC, says election watchdog
Tony Thien
May 25, 06 2:01pm

Malaysians for Free and Fair Elections (Mafrel) has called for a complete revamp of the Election Commission (EC) for allegedly failing to regain public confidence since the 2004 general election.

Mafrel chairperson Abdul Malek Husin claimed that the EC had failed to address the problems and issues pertaining to discrepancies and inaccuracies in the electoral roll.

He told this to reporters when presenting an interim report on the watchdog’s findings regarding the May 20 Sarawak state elections.

According to him, the 2004 general election was the most chaotic polls ever organised in this country.

He also urged the federal government to reinstate local government elections and called on it to rectify the International Covenant on Political and Civil Rights 1966.

As for Sarawak, he said the state government - under the leadership of Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud - must “recognise efforts towards greater democratisation by acknowledging the free and expressed will of the voters even in opposition-held constituencies”.

‘Glaring violation’

Commenting on Mafrel’s findings on the state elections, he said the results seemed to validate the opposition’s contention that the new delineation of nine state constituencies had favoured the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

Of the nine new seats, only one fell to the opposition, he added.

He said Malaysian Dayak Congress’ (MDC) inability to contest under its own banner and symbol after its application was not approved by the Registrar of Societies was a “glaring violation of one of the basic tenets universal human rights - the right to association”.

Mafrel also expressed concern that the Human Rights Organisation of Malaysia (Suhakam) was not making any effort to address these violations.

The Sarawak election, according to the watchdog, also saw unethical campaign practices not being effectively curbed.

There were also “blatantly biased and unfair reporting” by numerous media organisations during the election campaign period, Abdul Malek said.

He said based on Mafrel’s monitoring during the campaign period, RTM, TV3 and all local public-funded radio stations as well as local newspapers such as The Eastern Times and Utusan Sarawak had favoured the BN.

Abdul Malek credited Sin Chew Daily, International Times, See Hua Daily, Borneo Post and malaysiakini for providing voters with more ‘balanced’ reports.

Mafrel also called on all parties and candidates to make public their income sources and details of election expenditure with distinction between party expenses and candidate expenses.

“Mafrel regrets that the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) had not been effective in deterring corrupt practices and abuses of power, including the misuse of government machinery and public resources evident during the campaign period,” Abdul Malek said.

He also urged the EC to study the reasons behind the low voter turnout for the state election.