The Star
March 15, 2008
By IAN MCINTYRE
KOTA BARU: The Malaysians for Free and Fair Elections (Mafrel) group has reservations on whether the 12th general election was adequately transparent despite the Opposition winning over four states.
Its chairman Abd Malek Hussin said it would prepare an interim report within 30 days from now and a final one within three months.
The final report would be distributed to the media, political parties, Mafrel volunteers and the Election Commission (EC).
“Only after the final report can we draw some conclusions. Transparency covers a lot of scope so it cannot be generalised.”
Abd Malek said Mafrel was disgusted with several developments during the elections, among them were the last hour scrapping of the use of indelible ink by the EC and the barring of Mafrel monitors from entering all voting stations of the states it was focusing on.
Mafrel is the sole body accredited by the EC to monitor the conduct of the 12th general election and it focused on the states of Kelantan, Terengganu, Penang, Kedah, Perak, Selangor, Sarawak and Federal Territory.
Abd Malek said Mafrel would strongly protest the move to scrap the use of the ink days before polling, alleging that the Attorney-General had interfered with the operations of the EC.
Abd Malek said Mafrel did not receive any funding from any public institution or the private sector but cited the countries of Finland and Canada who pledged a total of RM88,000 to its cause.