DAP fully backs Bersih 3.0 on April 28
The DAP has thrown its full support behind Bersih 3.0 rally, criticising the parliamentary select committee’s (PSC) serious lack of commitment to address fundamental issues of electoral reform.
The DAP has thrown in its full support behind Bersih 3.0, criticising the parliamentary select committee’s (PSC) serious lack of commitment to address fundamental issues of electoral reform.
The most serious shortcoming of the PSC report on electoral reform is the refusal to highlight the underlying flaws in the electoral roll, it said.
In a statement, the party’s secretary- general Lim Guan Eng (right) rapped the PSC on electoral reform for only properly addressing one of the eight key demands issued by Bersih.
Issues such as cleaning the electoral roll, reforming postal voting and extending the minimum campaign period remain ignored, he added.
He cited irregularities such as a woman born in 1853 being listed on the electoral roll and voters with male IC numbers being listed as female voters were still occurring.
Lim also cited the new evidence brought up by Bersih showing how voters could be ‘cloned’, adding that these problems needed urgent action before the 13th general election can be held.
Tip of the iceberg
The Bagan parliamentarian also raised the issue of 42,000 voters whose IC numbers could not be identified with the National Registration Department’s data base.
Other flaws in the electoral roll are the high percentage of voters unidentifiable by local residents and multiple registrations by the same voter with more than one identity card number.
He said this was “just the tip of the iceberg since the PSC did not ask Mimos to conduct a comprehensive review of the electoral roll”.
The DAP also supported the three key demands made by Bersih - the Election Commission must resign; the electoral roll and the process must be cleaned up before general election can be held; and international observers be allowed to monitor the polls.
“The DAP fully supports Bersih’s call to gather at Merdeka Square (Dataran Merdeka) from 2pm to 4pm on Apr 28, in order to demonstrate the rakyat’s desire to have a clean, free and fair 13th general election,” added Lim.
On July 9, last year, the Bersih 2.0 rally saw about 15,000 people marching in Kuala Lumpur to back the NGO coalition’s eight demands for electoral reform.
