By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal, The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, June 30 — The Election Commission (EC) has dismissed several key reform demands of election watchdog Bersih, days before the July 9 rally.
This is despite repeated calls by the commission for Bersih to call off the march and meet them to discuss Bersih’s demands.
Bersih is pushing for a free and fair election system, and has listed eight demands which includes the need for automatic registration, use of indelible ink when voting, and the need for a longer campaigning period.
EC deputy chairman Datuk Wira Wan Ahmad charged that implementing automatic voter registration contravened the “spirit of democracy”, and would involve amending Article 119 of the federal constitution which would be an “arduous” task.
“Those who designed the constitution, placed importance of freedom of choice whether or not to vote. We don’t practice mandatory voting in this country.
“Democracy also requires intelligent people. Automatic registration would enable even a mad man to cast his vote which will not contribute anything to the process,” he said today.
Wan Ahmad said that most eligible unregistered voters were “lazy”, and quoted a Universiti Teknologi Malaysia survey to support his claim.
“Most of those surveyed said they were either lazy or indifferent...So if these people are automatically registered they won’t take the election process seriously at all,” he added.
Wan Ahmad then argued against the use of indelible ink during voting, saying it was “regressive” as the only countries in the world that use it are less developed countries like Africa and Indonesia.
“Not everyone wants to have indelible ink on them. This will create problems on voting day. The constitution states that all registered voters must be given a voting slip, so if someone doesn’t want to, then we cannot stop them from voting,” he said.
Wan Ahmad also raised the possibilty of voters not wanting their fingers inked and questioned if they would then be barred from voting.
“Disqualifying them would go against their rights...I also heard that indelible ink can be easily obtained from Thailand. What if voters ink their fingers themselves before casting their vote? Can you imagine the chaos that will erupt when they are barred from voting?” said the EC deputy head.
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