Some silver lining in the cloud of chaos
By Stephanie Sta Maria, FMT
PETALING JAYA: The PKR elections, which have been besieged by “teething problems”, came in for a lot of flak from various quarters.
While its independent elections committee chief Dr Molly Cheah acknowledged there are problems, she also reminded that hiccups are to be expected in a process that is a historical first for a political party in Malaysia.
Political observers have also offered a mixed bag of solutions that could prevent the recurrence of similar issues in the next few weeks.
Bridget Welsh, an associate professor in political science at Singapore Management University, zeroed in on the vague conflict mechanism procedure.
“The election committee seems to suggest that there is a procedure for lodging complaints but people are not clear of its exact nature,” she said. “The committee must do more to inform both members and the public of this procedure so that they know how complaints are being lodged and handled.”
As of the end of last week, Cheah said the committee had received 135 complaints and objections. However, she declined to disclose the nature and status of the complaints, saying that investigations would take time.
Dr Sivamurugan Pandian of Universiti Sains Malaysia has pinpointed this lack of transparency as yet another aspect that the committee needs to rectify. He also questioned the extent of the election committee’s independent role.
“There is no clear separation of power between the committee and party leaders,” he said. “The election committee claims it has been given full authority over the election process but this is not being seen.”
Extra effort
Sivamurugan added that he had heard talk that those selected by the committee to monitor the polling centres had been involved in vote rigging.
“This doesn’t bode well for the committee or the party,” he warned. “The election committee has to make an extra effort to show that it is adhering to its own rules and regulations by monitoring the casting of votes even more closely than it is now.”
James Chin of Monash University, however, has dismissed the idea of a fully independent election committee on the basis that the very nature of politics is never 100% transparent, free and fair.
“So what we’re looking for is the highest level of (being) free and fair,” he said. “ And in the Malaysian context, achieving just 70% of that is commendable. It is too late for any quick-fixes right now. The only thing PKR can do is conduct a re-run in divisions where voting was suspended and aim for legitimate results.”
Dr Lim Teck Ghee, director of the Centre for Policy Initiatives, recommended that another briefing be held for key officials engaged in the election process.
