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Monday, July 29, 2013

EC turns down Bersih invite


Bersih's People’s Tribunal to probe complaints of electoral fraud will be just another Election Commission-bashing forum, said EC deputy chairman Wan Ahmad Wan Omar.
KUALA LUMPUR: The Election Commission (EC) has rejected polls watchdog Bersih 2.0’s invite to participate in the People’s Tribunal, stressing that it had “no legal standing” and would likely turn into an “EC-bashing event”.
Its deputy chairman, Wan Ahmad Wan Omar, told FMT that the EC would only participate in forums that were legal.
He said the EC had already responded to claims of electoral fraud in the May 5 polls through legal avenues, such as in Parliament.
“I don’t see the necessity for the EC to get involved in a non-legal discussion with the tribunal,” he said.
Bersih 2.0 co-chairman S Ambiga had said that the six-member tribunal would push for action on grounds of morality should it conclude that the 13th general election was rigged. The hearing will run from Sept 18 to Sept 22.
“The People’s Tribunal is just another public forum organised by an NGO,” said Wan Ahmad.
He also dismissed the panel’s global line-up, saying that international panel members would not be able to understand the country’s electoral process and would consequently confuse the public.
The tribunal will be chaired by constitutional law expert Yash Pal Ghai, who is former head of the Constitution Advisory Support Unit of the UN Development Programme in Nepal, former special representative of the UN secretary-general in Cambodia on Human Rights and former chairman of the Kenya Constitution Review Commission and Kenya National Constitutional Conference.
It has two other members who are international figures: Ramlan Surbakti, a former deputy chairman of the Indonesia Election Commission and Kraisak Choonhavan, president of the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus.
The three Malaysian members are lawyer Azzat Kamaludin, academic and author Mavis Puthucheary and Hermen Shastri, secretary-general of the Council of Churches Malaysia.
“International personalities do not have the experience in conducting local elections and they will make conclusions based on what they read, what they presume, based on their understanding of western democracy.
“This will make their discussions more confused,” said Wan Ahmad.
Engaging stakeholders
He said while the EC was not interested in participating in this “open court”, it was more than willing to engage with stakeholders through public forums, such as the Bar Council’s Post-Election Series seminar which was held last month.
“The EC will act upon the tribunal’s final report if it is relevant and beneficial to the people.
“We will read whatever report send to us because we are in the process of transformation and looking for improvement.
“We are already looking into suggestions made by the Parliament Select Committee,” said Wan Ahmad.

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