18 March 2014

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

What: The first-ever People’s Tribunal in Malaysia, held last year to examine the conduct of the 13^th General Election, reconvenes with the same panel of international and local experts who will now deliver their findings and recommendations, having considered the testimonies they heard from more than 40 witnesses over six days from 18 to 22 Sept 2013, and 27 Sept 2013.
Chairing the Tribunal, as before, will be Yash Pal Ghai, an eminent expert in constitutional law, former Head of the Constitution Advisory Support Unit of the UN Development Programme in Nepal, former Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in Cambodia on human rights and former Chairperson of the Kenya Constitution Review Commission and Kenya National Constitutional Conference.
The other panel members are Ramlan Surbakti, former Deputy Chairperson of the Indonesian Election Commission; Datuk Azzat bin Kamaludin, an Advocate and Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya; Dr. Mavis Puthucheary, former associate professor from the Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya; and Rev Dr. Hermen Shastri, General Secretary of the Council of Churches of Malaysia (CCM).
The event is open to the public. We are encouraging everyone who is concerned about the state of electoral reform, especially the witnesses and members of the public who attended the six-day hearing, to come and hear the findings.
There will be a media conference with the panel members after they formally hand over their report to BERSIH 2.0, to be followed by a media conference with BERSIH 2.0 for their response to the findings. However, we can also arrange for one-on-one interviews with the panel members at the hotel after lunch. If you would like to have a private interview with the panel members, please contact Siew Eng at [email protected] or call 03-7772 3275.
When and Where: 25 March 2014, from 9.30am to 1pm
Throne Room, Empire Hotel Subang Jaya, Jalan SS16/1, 47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Why: The 13^th General Election in 2013 was expected to be the most hotly contested following a trend of rising disillusionment with the political party that has been in power for close to five decades since the birth of the country. Indeed, the popular vote was won for the first time by the Opposition, who nevertheless still failed to unseat the ruling party in an election that was also touted as the dirtiest ever. This spurred widespread disquiet among the populace. Reports of a range of manipulations and fraud emerged.
Thus BERSIH 2.0 – the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections 2.0, which comprises 84 civil society organisations – held the People’s Tribunal on GE13 to provide a platform for the People to investigate and scrutinise the conduct of the 5 May 2013 general election.
Tentative programme

 
For further information please contact:
[email protected] or 03-7772 3275 (Chuah Siew Eng)