Street protests may be only way to push for polls reform, says Ambiga
(TMI) – Polls reform group Bersih 2.0 has conceded that taking to the streets could be the only way left to fight for polls reform should its campaign to clean up the election system through legal channels fail.
Co-chairman Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan said the group, however, will first use its “People’s Tribunal” as the chief platform to “scrutinise” the allegations of fraud committed in Election 2013 where its findings will be the basis for its advocacy work for polls reform.
“We will go with the tribunal first. Depending on the findings we will push for relevant reform. If that fails then a protest may be the only option,” she told The Malaysian Insider.
Ambiga had previously said that the “people’s tribunal” will serve as a “moral force” to investigate and publicly expose alleged fraud in the May 5 general election.
The tribunal and its findings will also underpin its fight for the resignation of all the present Election Commission (EC) line-up following accusations of bias. Bersih and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders have also made this a key condition to bilateral talks on polls reform.
But the Najib administration’s insistence on the EC’s independence means it is unlikely to agree to the condition. The EC chairman, Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Yusof, has also said that the commission will not bow down to pressure.
The impasse could well force Bersih and the opposition to resort to street protests as a last recourse.
Read more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/street-protests-may-be-only-way-to-push-for-polls-reform-says-ambiga/
