The Electoral Commission has hit back at the Bersih movement, demanding it provide evidence for its allegation that the EC’s clean-up of the nation’s electoral roll has been deficient.
In announcing last month its plans for the rally on April 28, Bersih claimed that it had found evidence of 400,000 doubtful voters on the nation’s electoral rolls.
On this basis Bersih maintains that one of its key demands has not been met and has used this (in part) to justify the staging of Bersih 3.0.
But EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof has forcefully responded, accusing Bersih of exaggerating the numbers on which it is basing its direct action.
Aziz said a long and exhaustive check of the country’s eleven million registered voters against records held by the National Registration Department (NRD) found just 40,000 doubtful names.
These names were then struck off the rolls.
He has now issued a fresh challenge to his Bersih accusers demanding that they provide further evidence of doubtful entries on the electoral roll if they have any.
“They (Bersih) should know that the EC has nothing to hide. If indeed there are such discrepancies, give us the details and we will update them if necessary,” he said.
Aziz’s challenge came in response to Bersih’s demands this week for the EC Commissioners to resign for allegedly allowing fraud to continue.
Pointing out that Electoral Commissioners serve at the behest of the King, Aziz said Bersih should not be flippantly demanding resignations.
“If they feel the present commissioners are not suitable, it shows they are undermining the King’s authority.
“They are not qualified to demand our resignation,” he said.
Meantime Ambiga has pledged that the April 28 rally will be peaceful saying “if anybody tries to cause trouble, we will personally hand them over to the police. That is how firm we are on the matter.”
Her promise, however, could be largely tactical. Although the event has been given the go-ahead under the Peaceful Assembly Act, Bersih’s chosen venue in KL, the Dataran Merdeka has not been gazetted as a designated protest venue.
Ambiga’s promise of good behaviour is being viewed as an attempt to get that changed. It could also be an unwitting smokescreen for PKR’s desire to take to the streets and create its now infamous promise of an Arab Spring in Malaysia. The least PKR is seeking to do is piggy-back Bersih 3.0 as best it can and exploit it.
In light of the fact that most of the key demands of Bersih from last year have already been met, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak this week branded the planned 2012 rally as “irrelevant”.
As The Choice has shown in recent weeks, Bersih long ago ceased to be a non-party political campaign for electoral reform. Ambiga broker her word about staying above the fray and became a PKR partisan about a month ago.
With its colourful array of NGOs and its ant-Lynas factions, Bersih is becoming something of a jamboree for street protesters complaining about everything from environmental issues to Indian welfare ahead of GE13.
Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim has irresponsibly urged voters onto the streets on April 28 saying it is time for “the poor and oppressed” to kick out Barisan Nasional. Here he goes again, making us sound like a nation in need of a Marxist uprising.
Anwar simply does not seem to understand that trying to orchestrate disorder for the sake of his friends in the foreign media, while very successful in the past during the Abdullah Badawi days, will no longer generate the support and respect he is so desperately seeking.
His martyr image is already sullied. His political credentials are disparaged. The Economist magazine in January called him “tarnished.” He is lacking in vision and his trying to take ownership of Ambiga and Bersih will not win him any new votes; it makes him look a trifle desperate.