Bersih's Wong Chin Huat explaining the redelineation exercise by the Election Commission to the foregin diplomats who attended the briefing on Monday. – The Malaysian Insider pic, January 21, 2015.The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih 2.0) said it had organised a briefing for foreign diplomats on the ongoing electoral redelineation process in Sarawak as there was little information about it from the Election Commission (EC).
The polls reform group said the sparse information from the EC and disjointed reports on the matter had prompted requests by some diplomats to Bersih 2.0 for a briefing on the matter.Eventually, the Bersih 2.0 steering committee said in a statement today, it decided to hold a briefing for the diplomatic community.Yesterday, former EC deputy chairman Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar slammed Bersih 2.0 over the briefing, calling it an inappropriate move, as elections were "internal" matters involving Malaysian laws.He asked Bersih why it was "selling" the elections to foreign parties when the issue had nothing to do with them.Bersih 2.0 said it was not surprising that Wan Ahmad saw it as an internal matter, but it was "merely wishful thinking on his part"."For one, delineation is a process that is meant to facilitate the very public matter of election of governments, hence it must be correspondingly transparent to all who have dealings with government. This essentially includes other governments of the world, via their diplomatic representatives."Secondly, as a crucial part of the democratic process, delineation is also a necessarily public matter to ensure it is done fairly."Here is where Wan Ahmad’s 'internal matter' assertion is most revealing, because the EC has certainly been getting away with the delineation scourges of gerrymandering and malapportionment due to a lack of public scrutiny in the past, no doubt engineered by their 'internal matter' stance," the NGO said in its statement.The EC's stance also explained why it had given the people so little public information on the process, despite its importance as a predetermining factor of election outcomes, Bersih 2.0 said.It also hit back at Wan Ahmad for telling Bersih 2.0 to let EC do its job."This is precisely Bersih 2.0’s concern. The EC has certainly not been doing their job in accordance with the stipulations of the Federal Constitution to ensure a fair delineation," it said.Bersih 2.0 said in participatory democracies, civil society played an important role in all public spheres, and the group was doing its part by educating the voters on the redelineation exercise and how they could participate in the process."Wan Ahmad should not fault Bersih 2.0 for wanting to inform, not only fellow citizens, but also the world when the EC does not see itself as an institution of democracy that serves the public," the group said. – January 21, 2015.
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