Press Statement : 4 January 2008
The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH) calls upon the Election Commission Chairperson Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman to apologize and resign over his arrogant challenge to the opposition parties to boycott the elections if they doubted the integrity of the electoral process. His statements were made in an interview with Chinese daily Sin Chew on 1 January 2007.

Article 114(2) of the Federal Constitution stipulates “the importance of securing an Election Commission which enjoys public confidence”. Instead of winning public confidence by convincing his critics that he will endeavour to correct the flaws in the electoral process, Rashid issued this arrogant and irresponsible challenge. What sort of Election Commission administers elections just so that one party can participate and win hands-down?
Tan Sri Rashid’s unprofessional and totally inappropriate comments are disgraceful as he is duty-bound to ensure the full participation of all interested parties with the widest representation of the citizenry in any election under his watch.
BN breaches Election Offences Act
BERSIH condemns the BN for breaching Section 3 of the Election Offences Act 1954. In recent weeks, election banners, posters, flags and buntings have been put up at BN operation centres in the constituencies of Bukit Lanjan, Tanjong Sepat and Seri Kembangan. It is clearly stipulated in the Election Offences Act that any campaign material containing a reproduction of a ballot paper cannot be displayed during non-campaigning periods.
BERSIH demands that the EC take immediate action against the BN for blatantly flouting election laws and procedures.
Deceased Voters and Phantoms on Electoral Roll
Recently, BERSIH received an email pertaining to three IC numbers, which suggests that either the voters were aged 116, 108 and 109 OR 16, 8 and 9. On 31 December 2007, BERSIH called up the EC headquarters in Putrajaya to seek an explanation on the issue. We were informed that the said voters were deceased and were in the process of being removed.
In addition to that, we received a call from a Miss Sharmila (IC number: 73xxxx-14-5444) who tried to register as a voter at a post office in December 2007 but was told that she was already a voter in the polling district of Kg Wakaf Zain (state seat of Salor and parliamentary seat of Kubang Kerian) in Kelantan. She has since lodged a police report.
As the elections draws nearer, BERSIH will be keeping tabs on such registrations and encourages all Malaysians to check their status on the EC website, especially if they have never registered as a voter. BERSIH would also like to encourage all Malaysians to report irregularities and suspicious registrations to the Secretariat (03-79806571; [email protected]).
For enquiries, please contact the BERSIH secretariat at +603-79806571, +6019-2232002 or +6012-2192010.