Malaysiakini has apologised regarding this matter… [Malaysiakini]

On election night, we were informed by PKR candidate Badrul Hisham Shaharin that he was told by an EC official that there would be a recount.

Our story on that night reflected this. In addition, on March 11 Badrul repeated that there was a recount at a press conference and this was reported by not only Malaysiakini but also a number of other newspapers.

However, we have come to know now that such a recount did not take place. As such, we would like to apologise to Khairy Jamaluddin for publishing that assertion in our subsequent stories.

I wonder if Badrul is ready to apologise regarding this mistake too.

“Police investigations reveal that there are irresponsible people who bought ink from foreign countries in order to persuade those not familiar with the procedure to have the ink applied (to a voter’s forefinger or nail) before polling day,” he told a press conference at the EC headquarters, Putrajaya. [Bernama]

Abdul Rashid also said that the use of indelible ink would not be effective as the country’s constitution allows those who refuse to have their fingernail marked with the ink to still be issued with a ballot, and that the use of the indelible ink could infringe the constitutional right of a voter to cast his vote, especially if the commission tries to bar someone from voting for having an ink marked in his finger. [Malaysiakini]

The last minute reversal is not well received by the opposition parties and the public. DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and PKR’s deputy president Dr Syed Husin Ali have both criticised the cancellation of indelible ink of favouring the ruling party’s cheating and abuses in the election.

Frankly, I can see the point of cancelling the use of inedible link… I have thought of some possible downside for using the ink, for example some ladies might not know about the plan somehow and have applied nail polish and not allowed to vote etc… it could create unexpected chaos.

Questions are however… why using it at the first place? The indelible ink has cost the country million of dollars, shouldn’t the EC think twice before deciding to use it initially?

I have never thought of the violation of constitutional rights for using the ink, stupid me… but I am just a common citizen after all. However, what’s the excuse for EC for not considering about the constitutional factor back then? Shouldn’t they be thinking of the legal issues before spending millions for the ink?

Now, what will happen to the ink? Shouldn’t someone be held responsible for the earlier decision? Should we continue to allow incompetent people like Abdul Rashid to continue leading the commission? And what’s next… cancelling the use of transparent ballot box because it violates privacy? How about cancelling the poll all together?

The dissolution of this Parliament was made 15 months before the expiry of its five-year term on May 16, 2009. According to the Election Commission (EC), the country has 10.9 million voters including about 700,000 new voters who can vote in the upcoming elections. [Bernama]

[Update Feb 14] Polling is on March 8, while nomination on Feb 24.

With election drawing near, doesn’t this gimmick sound like “Money Politics” to you? The great things about this stuff are that the Election Commission is closing one eye with it, and some main media is glorifying the money-giving act.

I applaud the protesters’ spirit to convey their thoughts;
I condemn police’s action to use tear gas and water cannons on the protesters;
I hope that the Election Commission (EC) could be more independent;
I wish that the flaws in our electoral system could be minimized.

So why am I still not a supporter of the BERSIH rally?

EC is not our main concern

EC might be favouring our BN government in policies and having double standards when implementing certain things, but I still believe that we have a decent electoral system.

I doubt that there is any election in the world that is 100% clean, and I believe that our election is not that bad.

The main reason for BN’s dominance in the 2004 election is not the unfairness in election or the flaws in EC… it’s because we don’t have a strong enough opposition party (or alliance).

The opposition parties need to buck up their reputation, attract more quality members, and think of a way to form a strong alliance against the current BN government.

One thing that the BN government managed to do well all these years is to keep their alliances intact… it shows that Malaysians can work together regardless of occasional controversies. That is something that the oppositions are far from emulating.

The BERSIH march is a good lead to show bonding among opposition parties… work on it.

The involvement of political parties

It’s irony that both the success and failure of the rally are caused by the involvement of political parties.

Without them BERSIH would not have attracted such a large crowd; but their participation has made the rally a political driven protest instead of independent voices.

We may argue that BERSIH is formed by just 5 political parties and dozens of other NGOs… but fact is the political parties’ involvement will always grab the attention instead.

Read this, the headlines from Reuters’ reports…

Malaysia police move to foil opposition rally
Malaysia police use water cannon at Anwar rally

And here is an excerpt from AFP…

“Some 30,000 protesters eventually massed outside Malaysia’s royal palace, led by opposition leaders including dissident former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, as they faced off against hundreds of riot police.”

We don’t need our biased local press to mislead the mass; even the independent news source would perceive that it’s an opposition rally… and I’m afraid that most bystanders would think of the same thing too.

It’s ok if the political parties take part in this kind of rally, but their leaders need to back off from taking the spotlight. Let the NGOs handle the case instead, it shows more credibility ahead of political agenda.

Just a simple challenge to BERSIH supporters… name me 3 non political organizations that took part in the BERSIH rally. I apologize in advance if you managed to name it straight away without references… I doubt that I would need to apologize to most of the protesters though.

Would BERSIH boycott the election?

Would BERSIH move on to boycott the election if their demands are not granted?

If they chose not to boycott the coming election… it shows that BERSIH still have faith with our electoral system ain’t so? If that’s the case, why started the rally at the first place?

At the Umno General Assembly next week, party members registered as voters with the Election Commission (EC), will stand to win prizes totalling RM5.25 million.

Umno executive secretary Datuk Husainay Hashim told Bernama this today.

He also said that Umno members who had registered with the EC would also receive membership cards. Umno had issued 2.8 million membership cards and would deliver them to those who had registered with the EC tomorrow, he said.

“For Umno members who have yet to register, we will provide the facility for them to do so during the assembly and the membership card will be made for them,” he said. [Bernama]

If PAS or DAP are doing this… UMNO will yell that it is money politic. However, since that it is UMNO that is doing it… I guess it is ok, right?