MEO-Net launched a people & media -friendly observation instead of a EC-friendly observation. EC only accredit observer groups who agree to shut up when they see frauds-then what is the point of observation?
Add. 62 Weld Quay 10300 Penang, Malaysia
Contact: 013-5900339 Email.democracy4now@gmail.com
Web site: http://sarawaknews.wordpress.com
Press Release (March 25 2011)
Malaysian Election Observers Network (MEO-Net), a network of 6 election observation and voter education groups, announced today its decision to organize a long term election observation mission to the Sarawak State Elections, which will be held on Apr 16th 2011. The Sarawak State Elections Observation Mission will be led by Mission Chief Ong Boon Keong, who has vast experience in local and international election observation and have organized monthly pre-election observation studies to Sarawak since Sept 2009. To cater for the vast areas in Sarawak a coordinator will be appointed for each of the 3 regions in Sarawak ie South, Central and North. As estimated 100-200 observers are expected to be trained and recruited to keep the state elections under the closest possible observation.
1. Context of state elections: more pressures on election conduct this time
The context of the state elections is the post-2008 general elections outcome where the 2 major coalitions in West Malaysia become almost evenly matched, leaving the 56 East Malaysian states playing the `king maker’ role. Since much is at stake MEO-net expect there will be heightened pressure on the conduct and integrity of the elections. MEO-Net therefore see a role to keep the closest watch over the conduct of the elections so that the voters do have a chance to elect the best candidates under free and fair conditions.
2. Accreditation conditions handicap observers’ job
Election Commission has announced its decision to appoint Mafrel as the accredited election observer body, an appointment which come with restrictive conditions which handicap the job of observers eg the observers can’t speak out on any electoral frauds they spotted, observers can’t take a photo without the permission of the chief of the polling station(KTM), observers can’t enter polling station(typically a classroom) to observe polling and ballot counting, among other unreasonable conditions. MEO-Net do not see accreditation under such conditions as recommendable nor helpful to uphold free and fair elections. On the other hand MEo-Net see, in a situation where the EC failed to deliver free and fair elections, the media remain one of the few avenues for observers to pressure the EC into making improvement.
MEO-net has applied to the EC as accredited election observers for 2 reasons: 1. to appeal to the EC to drop all unreasonable conditions which handicap the observers’ job; 2. open accreditation to all bona fide election observers groups in and out of the country, in line with international practices to improve transparency of election conduct. In most democratic countries numerous election observers groups are accredited by their election administrator to uphold the integrity of the election process. The policy to limit accredited observers groups to only one reflect a control freak mentality on the part of the EC.
3. Program: full cycle election observation
A. Focus; full election cycle
MEO-Net therefore will organize a people-friendly election observation mission despite being stopped from the nomination center and also the polling center. MEO-Net see that there are usually more frauds being committed in the campaign period, where institutional weaknesses on the part of the election administrators (EC, PDRM, MACC, local governments) have habitually failed to arrests the grow of vote buying, abuses of government machineries and unfair media coverage. MEO-Net’s observation will not be limited to only polling day.
B. Training: all welcome!
To enable closer observation of the elections MEO-Net will conduct free training for election observers from the interested members of the public. No qualification is needed from the trainee so long that there is an interests to see freer and fairer elections that will bring better democracy. This is in line with the international practice of the election observers movements where all layers of society-be it students, illiterates, nuns, laborers cooperate with teachers, office workers, professionals etc to safeguard the electoral democracy from any corruption. Hundreds of thousands of volunteers go on duty as election observers in Malaysia’s regional neighbours at each of their elections. Malaysians can catch up for their own benefits!
C. Output: preliminary & final reports to be out promptly!
A preliminary report of the elections will be presented within 3 days of the polling, while the final report will be out within 1 month(if there is no electoral challenge to the result).
4. Pre-election Observation report(a summary)
A. Methodology: from Sept 2009 monthly trips of 1-2 weeks have been organized to conduct pre-election observation in Sarawak by groups of volunteers. The group meet up with government departments at all levels to give feedback to the departments. 4 written reports have been produced from the trips so far. The observations from the pre-election study are as below.
B. Institutional framework:
a. The 7 Election Commission Commisioners are appointed by the Agong at the sole recommendation of the Prime Minister, unlike the international practice to appoint them from the Parliament where by-partisan endorsement is needed; public perception of partiality remain a weakness of the current system;
b. The EC Commissioners are appointed from among the retiring civil servants who lack training in election administration; Their lifelong deference to politicians make them lack the courage to reprimand or take action against their law-breaking superiors; In other democracies retired judges, academicians and other respected civil society leaders are appointed as the election commissioners;
c. Similarly the appointment of Returning Officers from the rank of District Officers and Council heads replicate the same problems at the lower levels;
C. Legal framework:
a. The locating of the EC within the Prime Minister Department make EC appear to lack the autonomy that it needs to act as the apex body in election matters as required by the Federal Constitution;
b. The lack of adequate funding and capacities ie investigation and prosecution powers, further weaken the EC’s authority in enforcing the electoral laws as it depends on the police, the MACC, the Attorney General to investigate various frauds and prosecute the fraudsters; recent increase in funding don’t seems to go towards addressing the EC’s lack of capacities in the above mentioned areas;
D. Voter Registration:
At the base of the claim to representativeness of the election is the voter base and the voting rates; Without adequate representativeness the elected representatives lack legitimacy and respect from the public; Also disenfranchising such a large section of the natives amount to suppressing their voting rights-which is not acceptable in all modern democracies! However Sarawak suffer in this 2 areas due to various reasons:
- Voter registration: Sarawak remain the states among all others with the highest non-registered voters rates ie 32%, compared to the national average of 28%. Worse the vast interior areas where majority of the seats are located, the voters registration rates can be much lower than half eg 8000 out of 22 000 residents in Lubok Antu are registered; 7000 out of 23 000 residents in Belaga are registered, while 7000 out of 30 000 residents of Lawas are registered. Possibly hundreds of thousands of Sarawakian residents lack personal documents to register as voters;
- Voting rates: voting rates of Sarawak(58% in general elections, 63% in states elections) lag behind West Malaysia (77%), due to young voters working or studying in West Malaysia without opportunity to use the service of postal votes; In addition polling centers can be far from numerous long houses –thus discouraging voting;
E. Recommendations:
a. Election Commission be appointed by Parliament and made an independent statutory body with guaranteed budget to run its duties;
b. Commissioners be appointed from ex-judicial officers, academics and civil society leaders known for their integrity;
c. As the sole body charged by the Federal Constitution to run elections on regular and fair basis the EC should be restored as an apex body on all election matter; EC should either develop its own investigation and prosecuting power or empowered to obtain support from the various arms of the government to enforce the election laws;
d. Voter registration in Sarawak should be given adequate funding or automatic voter registration be considered, as means to enfranchise the over 450 000 residents who are not registered as voters;
e. Sarawakians without personal documents should be addressed as a matter of urgency by the National Registration Department (JPN), with registration rates disclosed for public monitoring;
f. Postal voting should extended to Sarawakians who work or live out of their home town/village; polling centers should be open in all major towns to enable out-of-town Sarawakians exercise their voting rights-not unlike practices by Malaysia’s regional neighbours;
F. Conclusion of Pre-election observation: from the observations above it appears that the institutional frameworks, legal frameworks and voter base of the Sarawak elections are not in the best conditions compared to international norms. The EC should do well to try to address as many as practically possible of these inadequacies ahead of the elections to improve the credibility of the electoral process, in line with its Constitutional duty to carry out the elections on free and fair basis. The EC’s regular claim of itself as a mere election manager is a unacceptable deflation from its true potential and status as the apex election administrator with real arbitrating authorities, as is the case for EC of other regional democracies. The people/rakyat look towards the EC to return elections as the true way for the majority of the society to select their best choices of candidates to lead them towards progress, fairness and sustainability.
5. Trends from Sibu by-election: mal-practices will worsen!
The pre-election observation was aided by a Parliament by-election in Sibu in May 2010. The trends towards blatant vote buying, abuses of government programs, vehicles, staff, building etc seems to be out of control as the institutions charged with the duty to arrest such negative trends(EC, PDRm, MACC, local authorities) have been disabled under the prevalent practices. We will expect such trends to extend if not worsen into the coming state elections. The need and challenges for close observation of the election conduct by the people is never as colossal as this!
6. Trend thus far: pre-election campaigning committed by both sides
From our media and direct observation the politicians from both sides, from local as well as from West Malaysia have been conducting their campaigns ahead of the official campaign period, which is after nomination on Apr 6th. In 1 case we observed that an Opposition leader had been stopped from giving a speech in his home town of Lawas-whereas no such hindrance has been observed happening to the ruling party politicians. The police should be made to answer such inconsistency, and the EC made to answer why it would not extend official campaign period since there is a by-partisan demand for more campaigning time. The allocated 10 day campaign period continue past unadvisable trend to limit campaign time.
MEO-Net will continue to present its observation reports throughout the election through its web site as well as press conferences.For any enquiries please contact:
Ong Boon Keong
National Coordinator of MEO-Net
013-5900339
The PC was reported by Borneo Post, STAR and See Hua Daily.
A report of the press conference from See Hua Daily:
黄文强：内陆合格选民不及半数 不符多数人选领袖宗旨
(本报古晋25日讯)马来西亚督选网络组织领导人黄文强今日宣称，砂州内陆地区的选民人数不足当地人口的一半，因此以多数人选出政府的说法并不正确。他在今日的新闻发布会上，除了指出选举委员会公信力令人质疑之处，也揭露砂州人民超过32%还未注册为合格选民。
他表示，选委会的7名领导，都是由我国首相推荐给国家最高元首，然后才被委任，这种做法存在不足之处。
他继称，有关领导都是即将退休的公务员，而且没有实际管理选举事项的丰富经验，造成选委会无法善加利用选举法令来操作。
选委会应独立运作
他也表示，选委会如今依然隶属首相署，是必须被关注的问题，因为选委会应该是独立运作的机构，才能具有公信力。
此外，黄文强披露，砂州尚有32%的人民未注册为合格选民，上届州选举的投票率仅有63%，因此并无达到多数人选出心属代表的宗旨。
他表示，许多砂州内陆地区的合格选民人数，还不到当地人口的半数，这是令人感到遗憾的，因为有关领袖不是由多数人所选出。
他认为，选举委员会必须更落力进行选民注册工作，以改善此情况。
提升选举公信力 选委会应开放认可证
黄 文强(左)与砂拉越达雅伊班组织主席尼克拉斯召开新闻发布会，宣布马来西亚督选网络(MEONET)将在今次砂拉越州选进行全面督选。(本报古晋25日 讯)马来西亚督选网络(MEONET)呼吁选举委员会放弃约束性条件，并把认可证开放给更多民间组织，使到人民可以给选委会更全面回馈，并提升选举的公信 力和参与性。该组织领导人黄文强在今日召开新闻发布会时表示，选委会日前委任马来西亚自由及公正选举组织进行砂拉越州选举监督工作，不过却开出条件，即该组织不可对外发表任何关于砂州选举的事项。
他指出，督选网络认为这条件导致监督选举的无法进行，因此不值得接受这有违国际水准的做法。
约束条件违国际水准
他声称，虽然没有选委会的认可证促使督选网成员不可进入提名站及投票中心，但是督选网认为选举监督并非仅在投票日，其实更多的犯法行为是在竞选期间发生，因此督选需要更全面进行。
他说，督选网络将在今次砂拉越州选进行全面督选，因为该网络认为308政治海啸之后，东马政治动向将对中央政权举足轻重，并因而引来对选举公正的更大冲击。
黄文强披露，为了应对这个局面，监督网络自2009年9月已开始进行选前调查，并从现在开始训练当地的督选员。
他表示，该组织欢迎社会各阶层踊跃参与是项免费的专业训练。
据称，马来西亚督选网络是一个由六个成员组织的选举监督及选民教育的网络，由黄文强所领军。
黄文强本身多年来在本地及外国都有丰富的督选经验。
马督选网络 严格监督砂选举
(本报古晋25日讯)马来西亚督选网络将严格监督砂州选举的贿选以及公务员为政党站台之情况﹗该组织领导人黄文强在今日召开新闻发布会时，如是披露。
他表示，该组织在砂州选举期间，会注重在三个方面，分别是提名之前开始竞选演说、贿选情况以及公务员为政党站台演说。
他指出，基于竞选期只有10天，可是朝野政党为了拥有更高的胜算，都已纷纷进行竞选演说。
他声称，目前所出现的情况就是，国阵领袖进行竞选演说，并没有遭到对付，不过民联领袖一旦在活动上发表竞选演说，就被警方介入阻止。
没公平对待朝野政党
对此，他表示，选委会没有公平对待朝野政党。他认为，选委会对这个情况应该睁一只眼，闭一只眼，让朝野双方都处于相同的情况。
此外，黄文强指出，监督贿选情况也是其中之一。
他声称，砂州的“买票”情况已是普遍，人民也习以为常，因为甚少人民针对此情况做出投报。
与此同时，黄文强表示，基于诗巫国会补选出现公务员为候选人站台演说的情况，因此该组织在今次的砂州选举会观察类似情况。
观察公务员站台情况
他指出，公务员并不可参与政治，选委会主席丹斯里阿都阿兹也已经阐明，唯有获得公共服务局批准的高级公务员才可站台演说。
黄文强声言，该组织将收集一切选举不公的资料，然后提呈予选委会。
“一旦选委会没有认真看待，采取相关行动，我们就会向媒体公开报告，揭露砂州选举不公平的事件。”
Tiada ulasan:
Catat Ulasan