KUALA LUMPUR, 2 Apr: The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih 2.0) criticised the statement by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim, who claimed that voting based on race will foster racial harmony in this country.
Its Chairman, Maria Chin Abdullah, said that the statement should be rejected and should have been made in Parliament, and that those who issued it should resign.
“I think that Malaysians should reject Shahidan and Bung Mokhtar’s statement.
“In my opinion, the statement is absurd and embarrassing because it raises the issue of race in politics,” she said.
Previously, the Member of Parliament for Kinabatangan, Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin, also supported the proposal by the Member of Parliament for Arau.
He said that the proposal was not complicated because those who are mixed race can choose representatives from the race that they like.
Prior to that, Maria Chin arrived at Parliament to submit the 13th General Election report made during the GE13 People’s Tribunal.
The report was submitted to Pakatan Rakyat Members of Parliament and Bersih will submit the same report to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
During the press conference, she said that there were some shortcomings in the GE13, among them being the use of the indelible ink, cleaning the electoral roll and also the re-delineation exercise.
In the report, the tribunal panel recommended for an independent committee to be appointed to steer the re-delineation process to avoid an increase in tasks for the EC and for it to be carried out independently.
