The government cannot stifle public discussion about the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on allegations of a citizenship-for-votes scheme in Sabah by claiming it to be sub judice, said Bersih co-chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan.

The former Bar Council president said ‘sub judice’ means interfering with legal processes such that it would influence judges’ decisions.

“Commenting on the Sabah RCI, I can tell you, will not influence the adjudicators. They are experienced people; the former chief justice (of Sabah and Sarawak Steve Shim) is sitting,” she said at a press conference today.

She was responding to last week’s report where attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail called on the public to refrain from commenting on the ongoing RCI as it would be considered sub judice.

Ambiga also slammed Election Commission (EC) deputy chairperson Wan Ahmad Wan Omar’s statement that the commission could not act on the RCI’s findings until a decision had been made it.

While Wan Ahmad quoted from the Registration of Electors Regulations that it has power to clean the electoral roll if the irregularities has been proven in court, Ambiga said a decision had already been made in 2001 through the Likas Election Petition of 1999.

“The evidence has been there and it has been there for a while though there may be more evidence coming out now. The EC wanted a court decision? There it is, it has been there for a long time.

“So I do not accept even for one minute what the deputy chairperson of the EC is saying.

“It is unacceptable that he is telling us that they can do nothing about the electoral roll until the RCI is over as if they did not know about (the irregularities in the electoral roll) and needed the RCI to make a decision on the electoral roll,” she said.
In that petition, the court was presented with evidence of electoral fraud and instances where illegal immigrants were allowed to vote.

EC stand nailed to wall

Justice Muhammad Kamil Awang then ruled the Likas electoral roll illegal, resulting in the polls results being invalidated.

An amendment had since made to the Elections Act to prevent the court from scrutinising the electoral roll, which the Bar Council argues is unconstitutional.
Reading from Kamil’s judgement, Ambiga quoted him as saying, “the EC ought to be aware of the said influx (of immigrants), and when the said objections were raised, the EC should have held a public inquiry as prescribed by electoral laws.

“The exposure of fraudulent practices such as massive registration of phantom voters is time consuming.

“However, it has to be done if we wish to defend and preserve the meaningful practice of democracy in Malaysia. As custodians of free and fair elections, the EC is duty bound to do it.”

Ambiga also highlighted that despite the EC using the need for a court decision to act as an excuse, it had already set up a division to clean up the electoral roll last November but the outcome had not been made public.

Her comments came as she fielded reporters’ questions at a press following the announcement of a new Bersih campaign against political violence.

Bersih to swing moral whip

Some time next week, she said, the pro-electoral reform coalition would launch a model code of conduct for candidates and caretaker governments, urging politicians to endorse it and condemn political violence as well.

Ambiga also urged the public to vote out politicians promoting violence by perpetrating it or condoning it by maintaining a silence.

She noted that in this year alone, there had been about ten reported incidences of political violence so far, mostly targeting Pakatan Rakyat but occasionally the BN as well.
“We remind all sides that political violence is a violation of not only the rights of the candidates contesting in the elections, but also that of voters.
“The use of political violence affects the ability of voters to make free and informed choices.

“It further entrenches within mainstream political discourse a culture of violence that is detrimental to democratic processes,” she said.

To kick off the ‘Reject Political Violence’ campaign, Ambiga and fellow co-chairperson A Samad Siad sent the following SMSes:

“Reject Political Violence. Pass this message to five friends so that we can stop violence. The rakyat should not keep quiet. Greetings from Ambiga Sreenevasan (or Datuk A Samad Said).”

The first batch of recipients included PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu, PKR vice presidents Nurul Izzah Anwar and Tian Chua, Deputy Higher Education Minister Saifuddin Abdullah, and DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang.

A Samad Said (right), a national laureate, also presented a poem titled ‘Bobrok Siasah’ to commemorate the event.

The three-stanza poetry expresses a yearning for peace and justice amidst violence.