Court application filed on postal balloting, says Ambiga

By K.C. Boey

October 29, 2011

Ambiga said she would be attending a hearing of the Parliamentary Select Committee on electoral reforms. — Pictures by K.C. Boey

MELBOURNE, Oct 29 — An application has been filed in the High Court on behalf of six plaintiffs for the Election Commission to allow postal balloting for Malaysians overseas, Bersih 2.0 chairman Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan told an audience here last night.

The application will come up for hearing on November 14, Ambiga said in response to a question at a Bersih 2.0 Solidarity Night organised by Bersih 2.0 Australia and the Melbourne chapter of Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia Australia (SABMoz).

She also revealed that she would be attending a hearing of the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on electoral reforms meeting on November 12 and 13.

Lee is returning to Kuantan to help in the Stop Lynas Campaign.

A ban remains in force on Bersih 2.0 and Ambiga has been told she would be attending the hearing as an individual.

“I have told them that I’ll be attending as chairman of Bersih 2.0,” said Ambiga. “However they want to describe me is up to them.”

Ambiga is on the first stop of a speaking tour of four of the most renowned law schools in Australia. On Tuesday she gave a public lecture at the Asian Law Centre, University of Melbourne.

Ambiga speaks at the University of New South Wales and the University of Sydney on Monday, and the College of Law at the Australian National University in Canberra on Tuesday.

At each stop she will be encouraging Malaysians to register as voters, as part of the next step in the Bersih 2.0 campaign.

On an evening at the Melbourne solidarity night themed on the sharing of Bersih stories at the time of the July 9 rally in Kuala Lumpur and rallies in more than 30 cities around the world, Ambiga told of how for the first time she rode pillion on a motorcycle.

Ting said ‘Negara Ku’ sounded so sweet.

Other speakers from among the 150 people present shared their personal stories.

University of Melbourne student Clement Ting tugged at the hearts of many, recalling how “Negara Ku” never sounded as sweet for him as at the Melbourne rally, his voice breaking at “tanah tumpah nya darah ku”.

Jade Lee, an environmental consultant who has been in Australia since 1980, told the gathering she was leaving tomorrow to return to her home town Kuantan to help in the Stop Lynas Campaign.

She has quit her job as Asia-Pacific campaign co-ordinator for the Australian Conservation Foundation, incensed that Malaysians had to learn from The New York Times about the proposal to build the world’s largest rare earth project.

“Lynas epitomises the system that we have,” Lee told The Malaysian Insider.