SENSITIVE issues of race, religion, and regionalism should be openly discussed for the sake of reform and democracy, Maria Chin Abdullah said.

The Bersih 2.0 chairman said discussion of sensitive issues should not be viewed as an effort to undermine the government.

“We have to discuss sensitive issues like the National Economic Policy, race, religion, and regionalism. These are issues that can actually bring us forward and should not be seen as negative and termed as undermining the government.

“There has to be a commitment to move towards an open discussion on how do we build a more moderate, multicultural, multiracial Malaysia,” Maria Chin said at the forum, Political Persecution, in Kuala Lumpur tonight.

She said the public should voice its demand for “systemic changes” to repressive laws to actually forward democracy.

“As citizens, to take a step forward we have to tell the government that we also want systemic changes, not just free toll, free handphones, free vouchers, and so forth.

“We want systemic changes, and they are to build up the civil liberties of citizens. That means getting rid of or amending the repressive laws so that it actually forward democracy.

Maria Chin was referring to the Printing Presses and Publications Act, Sedition Act, and film censorship laws which were ways to silence dissent.

She also said institutions such as the Election Commission and Malaysian Anti-corruption Commission should have more autonomy to ensure justice.

She said the election commissioner should “be sacked” because he had failed to deliver clean and fair elections.

“We want a reevaluation of the election system; we want to have a mixed proportional representation so that marginal parties and individuals can actually contest to level the playing field,

She added that there must be reforms in parliament and the cabinet, especially to limit the terms of the prime minister and his ministers.

“Enough of leaders that hold on to power and has not yet delivered, and yet they can steal from the people and still remain in power. We don’t want these kind of leaders anymore,” she said. – October 11, 2017.