Election watchdog Bersih 2.0 called on two of the seven election commissioners from Sabah and Sarawak to resign for failing to defend the right of East Malaysians for a fair and free polls.

Bersih 2.0 steering committee member Wong Chin Huat called on Jamdin Buyong from Sabah and Mohamad Ramji Alli from Sarawak to step down as the 10th Sarawak state election on April 16 was worse than those held in the peninsula in term of fairness and independence.

These weaknesses include the Sarawakian diaspora being disenfranchised, campaign period limited to 10 days despite geographical difficulties, and the failure of the Election Commission (EC) to call on national broadcaster RTM and the mainstream media to accord fair coverage to both sides despite the fact that rural Sarawakians depend on them for election news, said Wong.

Bersih 2.0 and another election watchdog network Malaysian Election Observers Network (MEO-Net) held a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today to present their observation report on the Sarawak state polls.

They had recorded more than 100 incidents of election irregularities and violations covering the pre-election to post-election period. Most of the incidents had been recorded in their monitoring website undisarawak.

Get serious call to commissioners

NONEBersih 2.0 chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan (right) said the full report, expected to be completed in one month, will be submitted to both the EC and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

She also repeated the call for the commissioners to resign as a sign of protest against the power abuse and irregularities that occurred during the election.

"I call on the EC to take this matter seriously. I also call on the commissioners to search their conscience on what had happened in this nation.

"If they do not believe this is the way to conduct elections, I would like to invite them to resign as a sign of protest," said the former Bar Council president.

She reiterated that EC cannot just wash their hands off by saying they have no enforcement power to regulate the polls.

Ambiga pointed out that Section 27E(a) of Election Offences Act 1954 empowers the enforcement team 'to patrol, and to monitor the activities of the candidates in its area of control to ensure that written laws relating to elections are being complied with' - and that this includes acts of corruption.

"They must at least make police report (over the irregularities). That is their duty," she added.

 Building in BN advantage

MEO-Net national coordinator Ong Boon Keong said that the way that election commissioners are appointed makes them susceptible to the influence of the executives.

He pointed out that they are picked from retiring senior civil servants with no knowledge or experience in conducting elections with a career background of receiving instructions from politicians which makes often refer to politicians when it comes to decision making.

"Thus, they are unlikely to take action against their former bosses," he said.

In a statement released during the press conference, Bersih 2.0 highlighted the key issues which marred the recently concluded election including incidents of power abuse by civil servants and state executives, vote buying, promises and threats, polling irregularities and violations, restrictring campaigns and asymmetric media access and disenfranchisement.

It was followed by a briefing by Ong who was on the ground during the election, on the details and evidence of irregularities.

According to Ong, the BN candidate for Muara Tuang seat, who is also the brother of Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, had not submitted the financial account for the previous election but was still allowed to contest by the EC.

"This is blatant abuse of power of EC," he said.

NONEOng (left) also claimed that informaton from media practitioners revealed that the local newspapers, mostly owned by logging tycoons or the ruling parties, had banned the news of opposition's mega rallies in urban constituencies, as well as the issues of Al-kitab impoundment and Taib's wealth.

"They said that the coverage ratio for ruling and opposition parties was at 60:40 but in the second half of the campaign, the opposition news had been taken out. We could not read about the opposition anymore," he said.

On the abuse of government machinery, Ong revealed that the newly appointed Sarawak state secretary had campaigned for the BN together with the deputy prime minister almost all the time, in strong contrast to his predecessor who would issue instructions prohibiting all civil servants from campaigning.

He noted that the government-appointed rural community leaders, including tuai rumah, penghulu, pemancar and temenggung, were trained and briefed by the government to make sure the rural people voted for the BN.

Even the MEO-Net observers who were previously welcomed before the election were banned from entering longhouses by the tuai rumah during the campaign period after they were accused of being pro-opposition, claimed Ong.

NONE"This is definitely not fair," he added.

During the press conference, Ong screened the interview footage of several voters who claimed they had received money from BN campaigners to vote in favour of the ruling party.

A woman in the video claimed that a kindergarten teacher had threatened her not to vote for the opposition because her vote was traceable and it would jeopardise her children's education.

Ong also reiterated that some 100 people from Bawang Assan constituency had gathered at the SUPP office to claim RM400 that was promised by the party's agents should its candidate win.

"All these should prove that vote-buying was rampant," he said.

SUPP had denied the allegation and rapped the election watchdog and Malaysiakini, which reported the allegation, for defaming the party.