Parliament approves polls reform panel

By Shannon Teoh and Clara Chooi

Nazri said the Westminster system afforded Najib the luxury of choosing when to call for a general election. — File pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 3 — Parliament agreed today to form a bipartisan select committee on electoral reforms, despite Putrajaya’s continued refusal to guarantee that elections will not be held until the panel’s recommendations are implemented. Opposition lawmakers had pressed for Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s assurance that he will not dissolve Parliament until the committee has completed its work.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz said that it was the prerogative of the prime minister to decide the timing of polls as was customary in under the Westminster system.
“We cannot give a guarantee that polls won’t be held while the select committee sits. It is the prime minister’s prerogative and is convention. There is nothing new about this,” he said.
DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang previously said that the public was “entitled to question the sincerity of the prime minister’s sudden conversion to the cause of electoral reforms.”
“This is because of the government’s repression and undemocratic handling of the Bersih rally for free and fair elections,” the Ipoh Timor MP said.
Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang also called for the electoral roll to be rid of phantom voters immediately.
But Nazri said that the select committee was formed to suggest improvements to the electoral system and there was no need to set a deadline for it.
“If it is not done by the 13th general election, it is not the end of the world. If it cannot be done by the 13th, then there is the 14th, 15th... even 18th general election, to implement it,” the Padang Rengas MP said.
Speaking to The Malaysian Insider at the MP’s lounge later, Nazri said the six-month timeframe given to the PSC was reasonable and would give its members sufficient time to implement reforms.
He reiterated that if Najib decides “in bad faith” to call for snap polls before the committee concludes its work, the 13th general election would not be the country’s last.
“When we set the six-month time frame, we took into consideration that Parliament expires in April 2013. This gives the committee enough time... it cannot be three months or one month,” he said.
Nazri also reasoned that it was the prerogative of all Chief Ministers and Mentris Besar to decide if they wanted to hold state polls along with the federal elections.
Nazri also confirmed that the Election Commission (EC) would be compelled to implement all recommendations made by the PSC.
“The EC works on the basis of what is in the Constitution, under the power and directive of the majority voice of the rakyat. And the rakyat is represented by the various parties in Parliament.
“Whatever the PSC recommends, is based on consensus by the parties in it, which represents the members of Parliament. So the EC has to abide by its decision,” he said.
Nazri also defended the PSC’s terms of reference, saying it had been widened past Bersih 2.0’s eight demands to encompass all issues that would guarantee free and fair elections
source : The Malaysian Insider