DURING an interview with NTV7 on 9th Apr 2012, Prime Minister
Dato Seri Najib Razak assured us that elections will be free and clean.
We have followed up with his assurances and a coalition of NGOs is
putting forward a package of electoral reforms aimed at restoring the
spirit and intention of the original Federation of Malaysia
Constitution.
To achieve this, we are proposing more than 204 amendments to the
Enactments and Regulations relatedto the election systems and processes
as well as to the relevant Articles of the Federal Constitution.
In view of this, the electoral reform program of Tindak Malaysia - which
began as an implementation of the 8 Demands put forward by Bersih 2.0 -
has expanded this to covera comprehensive review of the entire
electoral system and process.
These reforms are intended to bring Malaysians back to the democratic
aspirations of the original Federation of Malaya and Federation of
Malaysia Constitutions. These reforms will take us beyond the 13th
General Elections and set the tone for the future of democracy in our
nation.
This initiative will challenge the politicians on both sides of the
divide to work towards the restoration of the democratic stature. While
some of the proposals will require the endorsement of a simple majority
in Parliament, others only need to be approved by His Majesty the Yang
di Pertuan Agong.
Constitutional amendments will require a 2/3 majority vote. It is
important that the politicians and their parties state their stance on
these proposals before they go to the polls in GE13.
Bersih2.0 coalition successfully mobilised more than 200,000 Malaysians
to demonstrate their concerns about the lack of free and fair elections.
Issue-focused groups like HINDRAF (Hindu Rights Action Force), SMSL
(Save Malaysia, Stop Lynas), SADIA (Sarawak
DayakIban Association), SABM (SayaAnakBangsa Malaysia), SCANE (Sarawak
Conservation Alliance for Natural Environment), ABU, electoral watchdogs
(MAFREL &Sibu Election Watchers), Opinion survey organisation
(MerdekaCenter)and think-tank (Centre for Policy Initiative - CPI) have
joined Tindak Malaysia to launch these proposals.
We support Bersih 2.0’s efforts on mobilising voters to achieve 100%
turnout at the elections as well as to become monitors to observe and
report on electoral irregularities during the 13th General Elections.
Our proposals are meant to complement BERSIH 2.0’s efforts and we look
forward to gathering even more support from organisations and
individuals to make thiscall for electoral reform a reality.
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