BN urged to commit to PSC recommendations

As the ruling coalition's appetite for reform diminishes after the general election, Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar today reminded BN of the outstanding electoral reforms still owed to the people. 

"We are not trying to start something new. There is no new blueprint that needs to be prepared. 

"Just make sure the government of the day implements its own suggestions and recommendations," she said at the Bar Council's post-election series seminar entitled "Electoral Refroms - Out with the Old, In with the New" in Kuala Lumpur today. 

She was referring to the 22-point recommendations by the bi-partisan parliamentary select committee on electoral reform which was published last year. 
 
Nurul Izzah added that majority of the recommendations were in fact BN's very own as Pakatan's proposals were over-ruled by the ruling coalition's majority on the committee. 
 
Among the outstanding reforms, she pointed out, was the pre-registration of voters at age 20, dissolution of Parliament only after four years into a term, free and fair access to media, and political funding based on seats and votes obtain. 
 
'No revolution' 
 
Nurul Izzah said the that Pakatan Rakyat was committed to changing the flawed system through the system itself and had no intention for "revolution". 
 
She added that Pakatan was even prepared to help Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak place the Election Commission (EC) under the scrutiny of Parliament, but details of the proposal have not been forthcoming. 

Najib had in conjunction with the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong's birthday in June made the announcement to place EC under Parliament but had not commented on the matter since. 

Furthermore, Nurul Izzah also expressed disappointment at Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Shahidan Kassim in charge of parliamentary affairs who, she said has not taken the matter seriously. 

For now, the PKR vice president announced that Pakatan planned to sue the Election Commission over its failures in the last general election but decline to elaborate. 

"The lawyers have requested that information only be revealed on Monday, so that is all I can say," she said, adding that the Pakatan will also pursue a series of election petitions. 

EC: Reforms still underway 
 
Later, EC member P Manogaran said that the commission had not forgotten about the reforms and were still studying them. 
 
"We are not sitting on that, we have established groups to study each one of the recommendations," he said. 
 
Among those that was in the process of implementation, he said was voter pre-registration for those who reach 20 years of age. 

Furthermore, he said the committee had already implemented some of the recommendations before the general election such as advance voting and overseas voting. 

However, Manogran (left) refused to weigh into the indelible ink controversy, stressing that a report on the matter would be released soon. 

He also conceded weaknesses in the last general election in terms of implementation on the ground which among others caused long queues and inconveniences. 

"I apologise for that, the planning was done well but the people executing it on the ground did not do a good job," he said. 

EC can sue Putrajaya 

He added that the EC had also done its best to persuade the federal government to allow equal media access to all parties but to no avail. 
 
"It did not work out the way we wanted it to, we fought hard but we were not successful," he said. 
 
Following this, moderator Andrew Khoo pointed out that federal government is obliged to comply with the EC's request, otherwise the EC can take the federal government to court. 
 
However, Manogaran replied that the EC can only act on the advice of its legal advisors. 
 
"I am not a law man, I need to consult our legal advisors," he said. 
 
Also on the panel were Tindak Malaysia chief Wong Piang Yow and Bersih co-chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan.