IN its Malaysia Day message, Bersih 2.0 called on Putrajaya to enhance voting rights and keep politicians and state officials in check.  

The election watchdog referred to the previous general elections where 12,246,483 voters came out in droves and voted Barisan Nasional out. 

“All Malaysians must be able to vote with maximum convenience and at minimal cost,” the group said.

“This, however, is not true for some 500,000 Sabahan and Sarawakian voters who reside in the Peninsula and 60,000 Peninsula voters who reside in the Borneo regions.”

The group said that East Malaysians residing in the Peninsula had to fork out large amounts of money just to go back and vote.

“Unsurprisingly, even when national turnout was high, such as 76% (2008), 85% (2013) and 82% (2018), Sarawak registered only 65%, 76% and 73% for its parliamentary elections, lower by 9-11% points while Sabah recorded only 69%, 80% and 77% in the same polls, lower by 5-7%. 

“It is unimaginable and unforgivable that we as a nation tolerate this political and electoral injustice for 59 years.” 

Bersih also said that to facilitate voting, the Election Commission could set up mega voting centres, following the example of the Health Ministry’s mega vaccination centres that saw millions of Malaysians getting vaccinated for Covid-19. 

“We also call for the simplification of the overseas voting process for the 1.8 million Malaysians living overseas, to replace manual operation of posting ballots by allowing voters to download and print PDF versions of their postal ballots, so that ballots can be posted soon after Nomination Day and reach their Returning Officers in time. 

“Both enfranchising out-of-region voters with advance voting facilities and simplification of overseas postal voting must happen before GE15 to prevent a low turnout of 55% as it was in the Johor state election this March.  

“A low turnout weakens the next Government’s legitimacy, especially if it must carry out unpopular but necessary measures in crises.” 

It also asked that 10 reforms be undertaken by the government before the next general elections. 

The 10 reforms are: 

1.    An independent Public Prosecution Office, separate from the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC), which should function mainly as the government’s legal advisor. 
 
2.    Expansion of advance voting facilities for out-of-region (Sabah, Sarawak and the Peninsula) voters and simplified postal voting process for overseas voters to increase turnout. 
 
3.    A 10-year limit on Prime Minister’s term of office, to reduce corruption and political instability due to concentration of power. 
 
4.    A Parliamentary Services Act, to enable parliament’s administrative and financial autonomy to have better law-making and oversight of government. 
 
5.    A Political Finance Act, with public funding for political parties, to curb corruption and money politics. 
 
6.    An Equitable Constituency Development Fund Act, to ensure all parliamentarians receive equitable allocations for their constituencies. 
 
7.    An independent Election Commission, answerable to parliament and not controlled by the Prime Minister. 
 
8.    A reformed Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), answerable to parliament and not controlled by the Prime Minister. 
 
9.    Establishment of “Private Members’ Business” timeslot in parliamentary sittings and making “Private Members’ Bills” viable to empower both opposition members and government backbenchers. 
 
10. A new constitutional convention of “Fixed Term Parliament”, that a Prime Minister can only seek early dissolution in only two circumstances, first, having lost the confidence of parliament, or, second, two-third of parliamentarians support an early election.  

– September 15, 2022.