The Coalition for Clean and Fair Election (BERSIH 2.0) would like to reply to the query of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak on whether BERSIH 2.0 has lodged police report against Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s candidate in Sungai Kandis by-election on election offences in view of he himself has been investigated by police for campaigning on polling day due to a police report lodged against him.
BERSIH 2.0 wishes to clarify that BERSIH 2.0 did not lodge police report on election offences committed by Najib Razak, but instead lodged the report to the Election Commission. The Election Commission in turn had lodged a police report on the case, which we believe led to the investigation of Najib Razak.
BERSIH 2.0 would also like to state clearly that we had conducted election observation on Sungai Kandis by-election and all election offences committed by all parties, including UMNO and PKR candidates, have been documented in our election observation report and submitted to the Election Commission for further action. It is essentially up to the Election Commission to consider appropriate measures as an institution vested with powers under the Federal Constitution to take necessary action on election offences.
BERSIH 2.0 welcomes the action taken by the Election Commission and the police as this sets a new precedent of taking action on election offences, which have been largely ignored in the past under the rule of Barisan Nasional with total impunity.
BERSIH 2.0 also calls on the Election Commission to investigate all other election offences in the report submitted by us, including those committed by PKR candidate. Complaints of election offences submitted by other organizations and public members should also be investigated as well to ensure free and fair elections.
We hope this would send the right signals to all political parties and candidates to abide by the principles of clean, free and fair elections in all future elections, including the current running by-election in Port Dickson.
Released by,
Steering Committee of BERSIH 2.0