Mat Sabu: 1mil for Bersih 4.0 if no polls reform

f Bersih organises another rally to push for electoral reform, one million Malaysians will come out in force to call for clean and fair elections, claims PAS.

Its deputy president Mohamad Sabu (left) said today that the Election Commission (EC) had to clean up its act, as the people’s support for electoral reform was present and would manifest itself.

“If Bersih holds Bersih 4.0, I am confident that this time the people showing up will break the one million mark to express their dissatisfaction with the electoral system,” he said at a press conference today.

However, he conceded that it was up to the Bersih steering committee to decide if another rally will be held, adding that PAS would follow their lead on the matter.

Still, he emphasised how the Bersih 3.0 rally clearly showed the people’s desire for reform, claiming that there may have been up to 400,000 people at the rally.

He also condemned the police brutality at last Saturday’s rally, saying that it was “more brutal than the Israeli police when dealing with the Palestinians”.

Sarcastically, he commended Najib’s “transformation” efforts, quipping that he had managed to “change the police’s image...from brutal to more brutal”.

He was at the EC headquarters with PAS’ democratic mobilisation driver group today to deliver a memorandum, which was received by a public relations officer of the commission.

The memorandum demands fair media access for the opposition and the immediate resignation of EC chairperson Abdul Aziz Yusof and his deputy Wan Ahmad Wan Omar, who were revealed to be Umno members by PKR last Friday.

Mohamad, better known as Mat Sabu, said that this was important as public trust in the EC had been compromised by the revelation, with people now doubting their ability to run elections fairly.

He added that the public was already wary when previous EC chairperson Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman withdrew the proposal to use indelible ink in the 2008 election by citing concerns about fake ink, only to admit after retiring that he was pressured to do so.

Voter influx in swing seats

Selangor PAS elections director Jaafar Samsudin highlighted the suspicious increase in the number of registered voters in Selangor, claiming it was part of a concerted effort to swing several seats.

He said that for Sabah-born voters registered in Selangor, there were 15,520 new voters added between 2008 and 2011, either by re-registration or by a change of address.

Meanwhile, the number of new Sarawak-born voters registered in Selangor numbered 8,585. The numbers were obtained from the electoral roll by checking voters’ IC numbers, which indicate place of birth.

The problem is that many of these voters do not even reside in Selangor, indicating that it is part of a deliberate effort by Barisan Nasional to win back seats.

He added that the distribution of these new voters across seats would potentially be able to swing seats won by slim majorities in the last election.

“This shows that there is a movement now to register them even though they do not reside in Selangor... to help Umno or BN,” he said.