> New EC chief must commit to reforms

The Coalition For Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) congratulated Home Ministry Secretary-General Tan Sri Aziz Yusof today on being appointed the new chairman of the Election Commission (EC).

However, it noted that Aziz had his job cut out for him in shedding its poor public image as a weak public institution, particularly after eight years under outgoing chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman.

Bersih also urged him not to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor but to support their five fundamental principles for a clean and fair election process.

“The new Election Commission chief must commit to electoral reform,” said Subang MP R. Sivarasa on behalf of Bersih.

“Bersih calls on him to declare his support for these five basic demands of the Malaysian public: a comprehensive overhaul of the electoral roll; the abolition of postal votes; the use of indelible ink; fair access to the media and a minimum campaign period of 21 days.”

He emphasised that Bersih had been asking for them since its inception on Nov 23, 2006.

Sivarasa said that the coalition will try to engage the EC chairman’s office as soon as he officially takes up the position on Dec 31. He was optimistic that their discussions with Aziz would prove more fruitful than with Rashid.

Also at the press conference were Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh, Seputeh MP Teresa Kok and Kuala Selangor MP Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.

They noted that Rashid had been less than cooperative in previous discussions with Bersih, particularly over the indelible ink fiasco.

Fuziah said that the EC already had an existing information system called “SPRINTRA” that could help it weed out deceased voters from the electoral roll.

“We do not see why the Election Commission cannot conduct clean and fair elections when it has an  existing system to cleanse the electoral roll,” she said.

“If they want to do it, they can do it. If they have the will to do it, they can do it,” she emphasised - The Malaysian Insider.