Bersih 3.0 is a rally calling for clean and fair elections in Malaysia. So far they have had 3 rallies. The second one was last year, and it presented 8 demands to the government:
- Clean the electoral roll
- Reform postal voting
- Use of indelible ink
- A minimum campaign period of 21 days
- Free and fair access to mainstream media
- Strengthen public institutions
- Stop corruption
- Stop dirty politics
What followed after last year’s massive rally was a Parliamentary Select Committee that was supposed to address the concerns Bersih had made. The report made it to Parliament, where they refused to allow a dissenting minority report to be entered, along with the main report. There was also no time frame stipulated to implement the recommendations.
What happened after that was far more sinister. A “stop the clock” motion was granted for the first time in years to allow Barisan Nasional, the ruling coalition with a slim majority, bulldoze 8 motions through Parliament. One of the 8 motions removes the safeguards to preventing electoral fraud and AIDS dirty politics. Here, have a read for yourself:
What this means is that the demand to clean the electoral roll wasn’t just ignored. It was brutally spat upon by the Elections Commissions. By the way, the heads of the Elections Commissions have admitted they are part of UMNO, the lead of Barisan Nasional.
And the response, as you can see in the report linked, is that “that’s not a big deal. They’re still doing their job without bias.”
Which is rather sickening when you consider that the gerrymandering and malapportionment is well and alive in Malaysia today.
Which was the reason why I marched yesterday.