FORMER Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement (Abim) president Muhammad Faisal Abdul Aziz is the new Bersih chairman after pipping his rival Gopalan K Papachan by one vote.

Faisal polled 23 votes while Gopalan, who was a former secretary-general of the Malaysian Workers Party – before it was rebranded as Parti Amanah Negara – received 22 votes in the ballot that was held today.

In a statement, the Bersih election committee said Faisal’s term is from 2023-2025.

“The polling process, which was conducted online – to enable participation of endorsing NGOs of Bersih based outside of Klang Valley – saw an active participation with the receipt of 45 ballot papers from the 61 NGOs that form the Bersih coalition. The vote turnout was 74%.

“Ballot papers were opened and votes were counted immediately after the conclusion of the polling process at 5.00pm on December 15, 2023 at Bersih office,” the committee said in the statement.

It said that the process was observed by five representatives of endorsing NGOs who were physically present.

It said for full transparency, the counting process was also live-streamed online via the Zoom application for endorsing NGOs to observe.

During a debate with his rival last Monday, Faisal said he would seek to alter Malaysians’ view of Bersih as a movement only catering to urban communities.

“We want Bersih to be inclusive enough. Unfortunately, sometimes people say what we are fighting for only benefits a select group of individuals.

“We need to change this perspective. What we have to do is enlighten individuals, such as farmers and factory workers. When we discuss elections and justice, it will benefit all of them.

Faisal, who was also the current deputy chairman, said he also wanted to bridge the gap between the electoral watchdog and Malaysians.

For his part, Gopalan, said he planned to increase the diversity of Bersih’s membership to make it mirror the “national colour”.

“One of the first things I would do is to organise a congress of all 61 organisations, bring them all together and listen to what they say about the feelings on the ground – like what the communities want and what are the challenges.

“I also want to increase the membership. The 61 organisations don’t really represent in national movement. We need much better coverage particularly in Borneo. We need a national colour for Bersih,” he said.

Gopalan said he also wanted to bring the group back to its roots of being a people-driven movement.

The Bersih poll was held after Thomas Fann quit as chairman claiming that he did not enjoy the support of a divided steering committee pulling in both directions.

In his resignation letter, Fann said while he wanted to evolve Bersih to be a people’s institution, his new deputy chairman Wong Yan Ke wanted to restore Bersih as a people’s movement.

“Though I won uncontested for another term as the chairman of Bersih, it is clear that my leadership and efforts to evolve Bersih into a people’s institution were rejected by the majority of the endorsing NGOs of Bersih.

“In light of this reality, I hereby tender my resignation as chairman with a two-month notice,” Fann had said in his letter. – December 14, 2023.