Kadir: Indelible ink alone won't ensure free elections

Former minister and veteran Umno member Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir said that introducing indelible ink would not ensure free and fair elections and there are more pressing issues that need to be addressed.

In a recent interview, he said he believed it was more important that both sides of the political divide should be given equal access to the media, that the civil service should be politically neutral, and that money politics should end.

Kadir (right) told a story of a villager he met, who told him, "DAP is evil. If they win, they want to abolish the monarchy."

The villager said the information came from the radio and newspapers.

"All the radio, all the newspapers, all the televisions... it carries only one voice," he said.

"What the radio and the newspaper say is accepted as the gospel truth. (Most) of our population is like that. This means that other opinions do not go down (to the people).

"That is not the situation to have a free and fair election," he lamented.

"When I was the minister of information (under fifth prime minister Abdullah Badawi) I felt that way but I was not strong enough to change that."

He suggested that both parties should work out short-term and long-term solutions to deal with this situation.

"Maybe a few Astro channels for free, then some allocations by RTM and TV3, just for three months or so before the election.

"But after the election they must do something for the long-term," adding that serious applications for newspaper permits should be allowed as it is a constitutional right.

No sympathy for money politics

Kadir also said that the civil service should be neutral during elections.

"You cannot have (various government agencies) in the kampungs, eating and sleeping with the people, giving them money, having feasts all the time; spending rakyat's money, but campaigning for one side.

"That is something fundamental that should be corrected." he said.

In addition, Kadir wants "blatant distribution of cash" to buy votes to be banned.

"Very ugly and very primitive!" he said of the practice.

He said that he was given stacks of notes to distribute when he was helping in by-elections.

I said I wouldn't do it, give it to others.. All my life I never used money for politics," recounted the 73 year old politician.

He claimed he even had ministers telling him that money was necessary for politics and criticised this belief as just a means to justify corruption and abuse of power.

In his heart he believed it could be done without money as shown in Singapore and other countries in the world.

Even if money was used, the process should be as transparent as possible.

PSC should be given more time

Kadir's recommendations were also part of electoral reform coalition Bersih 2.0's demands, which it were mostly ignored during the first round of recent reforms to the electoral system.

The Elections Commission (EC) is implementing several changes to the electoral process, as recommended by the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on electoral reform.

Some recommendations in its interim report include the use of indelible ink, reforms in postal voting, and that the EC should be allowed to enforce election laws.

The committee has six months until March this year to make recommendations to improve the electoral process.

Kadir, who is also deputy president of the NGO Angkatan Amanah Merdeka (Amanah), lamented that the recommendations so far are only minor changes that do not address the issues.

Nonetheless, he praised Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak (left) for forming the committee and said that it should be given more time to propose and implement its recommendations.

"The government should not have the elections before the PSC finishes its work," he said, adding that the work could be done by June, but several more months were needed to implement it.

"And now it looks like they are planning to hold the election around March or April. That I think is not wise, the rakyat would really revolt.

"This would show that the PSC was set up just ‘for drama'. Even if they win (the elections) again, I think the rakyat won't accept the verdict," said the former Kulim-Bandar Baharu MP of 30 years.

Kadir is the eldest son of a founding member of Umno, and had been politically active since second prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein's administration.

In addition to being the former information minister, he also served as the culture, arts and tourism minister during Dr Mahathir Muhammad's administration.