Bersih: Polls reform low priority for BN

Patrick Lee

The pressure group says Najib should delay the general election until the proposed PSC has completed its work.

PETALING JAYA: Bersih today questioned the government’s sincerity in its promise to institute electoral reforms.

The reforms were not high on the government’s priority list, said Bersih 2.0 steering committee member Maria Chin Abdullah.

She noted that the government, while promising to set up a parliamentary select committee (PSC) on these reforms, seemed to be gearing up for a snap general election and could call for it before the PSC could make its recommendations.

If the government was sincere about keeping its promise of reforming the electoral system, she added, it would hold off calling for the election and attend to the PSC.

She said there ought to be no election until the PSC had finished at least its job of investigating the electoral roll.

The proposal to set up the PSC is expected to be tabled in Parliament next month.

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has said that the date for the next general election would not be tied to the setting up of the PSC or the progress of its work. That statement, said Chin, underscored the insincerity of the claim he made on July 31 that he was for electoral reform.

One of Bersih’s biggest concerns, according to Chin, is the existence of discrepancies in the electoral roll.

“We have at least 1,200 voters who are more than 100 years old. Then there are people who are still holding their old identity cards as well as their MyKads or two MyKads at the same time. So they are actually voters in two different places.”

She said Bersih would give the PSC three months to clean up the roll.

Responding to criticism of alleged interference by Pakatan Rakyat parties in Bersih’s work, Chin said her group had no way of stopping the opposition from using its name and its work to score points against Barisan Nasional.

“They don’t have our permission to use our name, but we can’t control what they say,” she said.