People’s Tribunal wraps up

(The Star) – The final day of People’s Tribunal examining the 13th General elections closed Sunday with the head of the legal team Professor Gurdial Singh Nijar due to present his closing statement on Friday (Sept 27).

The panel, consisting of three Malaysians and two foreigners, will be presenting their final reports and proposals as to the improvement of the current election system in three months time.

During the five-day tribunal, Malaysians from all walks of life gave their testimony during the elections, which they felt were illegal or was not right in some ways..

Independent elections watch dogs such as Bersih, Pemantau and Merdeka Centre, as well as political leaders gave their statements and evidences.

Allegations of money politics, bribery, extortion, the lack of credibility of the Elections Commission, flawed electoral system, refusal to submit Form 14 and even murder were among the allegations that were floated during the tribunal.

Pakatan Rakyat leaders including Pantai Dalam MP Nurul Izzah, Klang MP Charles Santiago,  PKR vice-president Chua Tian Chang,  Kuala Selangor PAS candidate Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad and several other Pakatan Rakyat candidates also made their statements during the tribunal.

The tribunal attracted negative comments from many, including the Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail and Barisan Nasional Secretary-General Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor.

The AG criticised Bersih chairman Datuk S. Ambiga for organising a tribunal that did not have any legal standings and called the whole thing a publicity stunt. 

Those testifying at the tribunal were also warned of legal repercussions as the statements could be constituted as seditious.

Tengku Adnan, in response to  Bersih’s invitation to attend the tribunal and present Barisan Nasional’s grouses and evidence, said that he will not attend a tribunal by ‘unclean’ Bersih.

He alleged that the Bersih brought in foreign voters during to Putrajaya during the general elections to pose as voters.

In response to his allegations, Ambiga said “Does this mean that they admit that there were foreigners that voted during the elections?”

The final day of the tribunal brought some more surprising claims such as that of National Oversight & Whistleblower Centre (NOW) directors Akmal Nasir’s allegation that some 24 Elections Commission (EC) officers made a police report against their returning officers for forcing them to hand over their ballot papers in exchange of RM200.

NOW is an organisation formed by Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli, who is also Parti Kedilan Rakyat strategic director.

When questioned if the reports were part of the petition filed by the opposition, Akmal said no, as the party decided to only file petitions for the seats that they lost by small margin.

“Does this mean that your party does not care about elections irregularities but only that they won?” the panel questioned.

Besides the Elections Commissions (EC) and political parties, the role of the media was also questioned, with Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) presenting their report on what they said was biased reporting by the mainstream media, especially.

A heated argument erupted between the final witness, Ambiga and penal member Datuk Azzat Kamaludin, when the latter suggested that the duty to keep the elections fair and clean did not just fall on EC.

He insinuated that Malaysians, especially elected representatives, should do their pars to ensure that the whole process is credible, to which Ambiga strongly disagreed.

During his closing speech, panel chairperson Professor Yash Pal Ghai, an expert in constitutional law, commended the organising committee on a successful programme and said that the experience will be an inspiration to many other countries.

“I am sure other countries will benefit from this. You have given us much to think about,” he said at the end of the tribunal.

He added that the citizens of a country are ultimately the custodians of democracy and human rights and as such he was happy to have been a part of the tribunal.

The other panel members who made up the tribunal were former Indonesian electoral commission deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti, advocate and solicitor Datuk Azzat Kamaludin, University Malaya Economics and Administrative faculty associate professor Dr Mavis Puthucheary and Councils of Churches of Malaysia General secretary Rev Hermen Shastri.

It will be interesting to see the conclusion that the panel makes. For all that the testimony was one-sided testimonials, there was some evidence that appeared to be convincing.

What was clear at the end of the tribunal was the lack of trust that many Malaysians have in the electoral system and that there are many loopholes that have to be addressed.