Opposition will never be satisfied, says Ibrahim Ali
BernamaPublished: Apr 19, 2012 9:45 AM | Updated: Apr 19, 2012 9:47 AM
The opposition will never be satisfied with improvements to the electoral process for as long as they are not in power and Anwar Ibrahim is not the prime minister, Ibrahim Ali (Independent-Pasir Mas) told parliamentarians today.
The opposition will never be satisfied with improvements to the electoral process for as long as they are not in power and Anwar Ibrahim is not the prime minister, Ibrahim Ali (Independent-Pasir Mas) told parliamentarians today.
“For as long as they are not in power, they will continue to say that the Election Commission (EC) is not clean. That is why the EC and other relevant authorities need to be firm in implementing and enforcing the general election regulations as they (opposition) could create trouble.
“We now have a prime minister (Najib Abdul Razak) who is urbane and open, especially in enhancing the electoral process but the opposition is still not satisfied. This is their political game.”
Ibrahim said this when debating on the Election Offences (Amendments) Bill 2012 at the second reading in the Dewan Rakyat in Kuala Lumpur today.
He said it was difficult to do a thorough clean-up of the electoral roll for as long as there were certain quarters who transferred the names of voters to certain areas for their own vested interest.
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim (PKR-Permatang Pauh) had earlier said that EC should strike off from the electoral roll, about 42,000 names of voters with doubtful status to ensure that the list was 100 percent clean.
“Although the number involved is small at 0.3 percent, it can still have an impact in determining whether Pakatan Rakyat or Barisan Nasional wins or loses in the coming general election,” he said when debating on the Bill.
But Anwar’s suggestion was opposed by Bung Mokhtar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan), Mohamad Aziz (BN-Seri Gading) and Lilah Yassin (BN-Jempol).
Bung Mokhtar in his debate speech said when EC displayed the list of voters whose status were doubted, more than 1,000 people came forward to rectify their status.
“This shows that these voters’ names should remain in the electoral roll in order to safeguard their voting rights. I have been told that some of them are aged 70 to 100; senior citizens whom we should care for.
“If we remove the doubtful cases from the list, how are these people going vote? The EC also has room to clean up the electoral roll, they just need to work harder,” he said.
- Bernama
“For as long as they are not in power, they will continue to say that the Election Commission (EC) is not clean. That is why the EC and other relevant authorities need to be firm in implementing and enforcing the general election regulations as they (opposition) could create trouble.
“We now have a prime minister (Najib Abdul Razak) who is urbane and open, especially in enhancing the electoral process but the opposition is still not satisfied. This is their political game.”
Ibrahim said this when debating on the Election Offences (Amendments) Bill 2012 at the second reading in the Dewan Rakyat in Kuala Lumpur today.
He said it was difficult to do a thorough clean-up of the electoral roll for as long as there were certain quarters who transferred the names of voters to certain areas for their own vested interest.
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim (PKR-Permatang Pauh) had earlier said that EC should strike off from the electoral roll, about 42,000 names of voters with doubtful status to ensure that the list was 100 percent clean.
“Although the number involved is small at 0.3 percent, it can still have an impact in determining whether Pakatan Rakyat or Barisan Nasional wins or loses in the coming general election,” he said when debating on the Bill.
But Anwar’s suggestion was opposed by Bung Mokhtar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan), Mohamad Aziz (BN-Seri Gading) and Lilah Yassin (BN-Jempol).
Bung Mokhtar in his debate speech said when EC displayed the list of voters whose status were doubted, more than 1,000 people came forward to rectify their status.
“This shows that these voters’ names should remain in the electoral roll in order to safeguard their voting rights. I have been told that some of them are aged 70 to 100; senior citizens whom we should care for.
“If we remove the doubtful cases from the list, how are these people going vote? The EC also has room to clean up the electoral roll, they just need to work harder,” he said.
- Bernama
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