TANAH RATA: Issues arising within the 10-day campaign period for the Cameron Highlands’s by-election like allegations of money politics, misuse of government assets, racist campaign speeches, as well as 17 police reports lodged, showed that election activities in Malaysia need to be monitored closely, said a political analyst.
Md Shukri Shuib believes that in order to reach for a mature democracy and electoral reforms, the time is right for the authorities to come forward and stop activities that violate election rules.
He proposed the establishment of a Special Police Force for every election, which is to be a collaboration between the police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) under one roof.
“Police should be given absolute powers to take immediate action against any party committing offences under the Election Offences Act (1954),“ he said.
The senior lecturer of Political Affairs, Policy and International Studies, Universiti Utara Malaysia said the establishment of this special police force should also be complemented by an election tribunal so that each case could be heard without delay for an immediate decision.
“The present procedures are very bureaucratic and take a long time to be resolved. A police report needs to be lodged first, then depending on the case, which might not be under the police’s jurisdiction but perhaps under the MACC, then the case has to involve the court,“ he added.
Meanwhile, a political and legal analyst from Universiti Malaysia Kelantan Prof Datuk Dr Abdul Halim Sidek said that he hoped prosecution involving election offences should be quickly resolved before an polling began.
“Otherwise, it would probably affect the results of the by-election and require another by-election which would require more spending by the government,“ he said.
He believed that the current laws were good enough to ensure a democratic election but enforcement was lacking.
Cameron Highlands by-election is being held after the Election Court on Nov 30 last year declared BN candidate Datuk C. Sivarraajh’s victory in the 14th General Election (GE14) null and void due to corrupt practices.
The parliamentary constituency has within it two state constituencies, namely Tanah Rata and Jelaim with a total of 32,009 voters. — Bernama
