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Redelineation exercise not EC's internal matter, says Bersih
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 21, 2015:
Former deputy chairman of the Election Commission (EC) Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar’s assertion that delineation is an internal matter is not surprising, but merely wishful thinking on his part.
The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih 2.0) said, through a press statement, that delineation was a process meant to facilitate the very public matter of election of governments.
Hence, it said, that it must be transparent to all who had dealings with the government.
“This essentially includes other governments of the world, via their diplomatic representatives.
“As a crucial part of the democratic process, delineation is also a necessarily public matter to ensure it is done fairly.”
The statement is in response to Wan Ahmad’s recent censure of Bersih 2.0’s briefing to foreign diplomats over the ongoing redelineation in Sarawak.
Bersih 2.0 said the claim that the redelination exercise was an “internal matter” revealed much about Wan Ahmad and the EC.
“Because the EC has been getting away with the delineation scourge of gerrymandering and malapportionment due to a lack of public scrutiny in the past, they had engineered their “internal matter” stance.
“It also explains why there is little public information from the EC on this process despite its importance as a predetermining factor of election outcomes.”
The lack of information and the confusion generated by the little that was out there in disjointed reports, is the reason Bersih 2.0 stated, that it held the briefing for diplomats.
“Wan Ahmad also called upon us to ‘let the EC do its job’. This is precisely the concern of Bersih 2.0.
“The EC has certainly not been doing its job in accordance with the stipulations of the Federal Constitution to ensure a fair delineation,” it further claimed.
“Civil society plays an important role in all public spheres. Bersih 2.0 is undertaking our part with regard to the redelineation exercise by educating voters on how they can participate in the process, which they can at: https://dart.bersih.org.”
