Press Statement, 16 May 2012
BERSIH 2.0 has emerged from 28 April stronger and energised as a people’s movement. During the BERSIH 3.0: Duduk Bantah rally, we witnessed citizenry at its best claiming their right to clean and fair elections. Combined with the efforts of Malaysians at national and global levels, the turnout for BERSIH 3.0 is possibly the largest in the history of Malaysian civil society movement.
But the struggle for clean, free and fair elections is not over.
New evidences of fraud continue to emerge without any concrete action taken to remedy the fraud. Not only has there been total failure to implement the changes recommended by the Parliamentary Select Committee for Electoral Reform (PSC), but there have been attempts to further weaken the electoral process. This is particularly seen through the amendments of the Election Offences Act 1954 hastily passed in Parliament. Fortunately, the amendments have since been withdrawn by the Government.
There is not a shred of political will in the EC and the government to implement necessary reforms or even to perform the fundamental duty of upholding the integrity of the electoral roll. As the EC and the government has proven that it cannot be trusted to conduct free and fair elections for the 13th General Elections (GE-13), BERSIH 2.0 calls on all Malaysians to help fight the fraud!
The first and most important step is to “Keluar Mengundi, Lawan Penipuan!” (Come out and vote, fight the fraud). BERSIH 2.0 calls on all registered voters to use your vote as a key tool in mitigating the fraud. We call on the rakyat to rise to the occasion and to deliver the largest voter turnout Malaysia has ever witnessed in the upcoming GE-13.
The second step that citizens in support of free and fair elections can take is to actively participate in activities that will detect, report and stop any fraud during the election campaign period and on election day. BERSIH 2.0 is working with Tindak Malaysia and Jom Pantau! to organise training for volunteers to play the vital role of election monitors, polling agents, counting agents and postal voting polling agents. We call on all supporters of free and fair elections to actively take action against fraud by taking on important roles of election monitors, polling agents and counting agents.
Tindak Malaysia has been organising countless Polling Agent, Counting Agent and Barung Agent (PACABA) trainings across the country. Volunteers for PACABAs are important as they play the frontline role of detecting any fraud and ensuring election officers abide by election laws.
Jom Pantau! is an election monitoring initiative carried out by with the Malaysian Election Observers Network (MEO-Net), Southeast Asian Centre for e-Media (SEACEM), the National Institute for Democracy Electoral Integrity (NIEI). All citizens can take part in monitoring the electoral process and reporting any fraud, abuse or irregular practices which will consequently be made public on www.pru13.info.
Attached is a list of training workshops organised by Tindak Malaysia and Jom Pantau! that is open to all.
This is a call to action for all BERSIH 2.0 supporters by BERSIH 2.0. We believe that by multiplying the number of election monitors, polling agents and counting agents, some portion of fraud and abuse can be curbed.
Salam BERSIH!
Steering Committee
Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections 2.0 (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 Ambrose, Andrew Khoo, Anne Lasimbang, Arul Prakkash, Arumugam K., Awang Abdillah, Dr Farouk Musa, Hishamuddin Rais, Liau Kok Fah, Maria Chin Abdullah, Matthew Vincent, Niloh Ason, Richard Y W Yeoh, Dr Subramaniam Pillay, Dato’ Dr Toh Kin Woon, Dr Wong Chin Huat, Dato’ Yeo Yang Poh and Zaid Kamaruddin.