Cabinet to decide on details of electoral reform committee

PETALING JAYA (Aug 16, 2011): The cabinet meeting tomorrow will decide on the details of the setting up of a parliamentary select committee on electoral reform announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak yesterday.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz clarified today that the select committee had yet to be formed and was not holding its first meeting today, as earlier reported.

The cabinet will discuss the membership and framework of the committee which Najib said will comprise MPs from both the ruling and opposition parties.

Last week, Nazri had accepted a memorandum from several Pakatan Rakyat MP who urged Najib to call for an emergency parliamentary sitting this month to debate allegations of permanent residents (PRs) who have been registered as voters.

“I brought the memorandum that the (opposition) MPs had given and we agreed to form the committee. We will follow procedure (as) it has to be brought to Parliament,” Nazri said.

Najib’s announcement on the setting up of the polls reform panel was generally welcomed by various quarters, including political parties from both sides of the divide, the Bar Council, Transparency International-Malaysia and the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih).

Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said Pakatan welcomed it as a principle but stressed that it didn’t want this to be used to deflect from key issues raised during the July 9 Bersih 2.0 rally.

“Most of the issues can be resolved by the EC, so why the delay? What is stopping the EC from cleaning up the rolls or reforming postal votes, registering overseas Malaysians as voters, and stopping (the registration of) foreigners as voters?” asked the Permatang Pauh MP.

He said that Pakatan also wanted participation of the select committee to be more inclusive by including Bersih 2.0 and other civil society groups.

“It is not just the Opposition who want electoral reform,” said MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek who hailed the setting up of the committee as proof of the the commitment of the government to have clean, fair and democratic elections.

He said “mistakes” in the electoral roll had to be accepted as there were 12 million names in the database.

“That is not saying these mistakes are justified, but we have to move towards zero mistakes,” he said, adding that as the parliamentary committee will have representatives from both sides of the political divide, "there will be more transparency and discussion ... And that is a good thing.”

Gerakan president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon said a bi-partisan committee was most appropriate and a transparent manner to address the various issues and concerns raised.

“This is indeed politically and legally correct,” he said, adding that the committee should ask the Election Commission (EC) to make presentations and explanations.

“It should also hold public hearings in various regions, to allow the people to present their views and suggestions,” said the minister in charge of unity.