Sibu: The postal ballot loop-holes

 Accountability, Malaysian elections  34 Responses »
May 242010
 

UPDATED: Pakatan polling agents were unable to witness the casting of ballots by over a thousand postal voters who were said to be located outside the Sibu police headquarters and two main army camps. That’s the assertion made by an experienced Pas polling agent familiar with the process, which revealed glaring weaknesses and loop-holes in the Sibu by-election. Back at Wisma Sanyan, the main coordinating centre for postal ballots, the agents for the Sibu by-election exercised unprecedented scrutiny over the counting and verification of the ballots. As the agents spotted more and more discrepancies in the postal ballots, the pile of spoilt and rejected ballots grew higher and higher. (The agents had been thoroughly briefed on what to look out for.)

Sibu: Battle for the postal votes

 Accountability, Malaysian elections  12 Responses »
May 192010
 

In Sibu, the DAP team had to struggle long and hard for the postal votes when they were being tallied. It’s time we take a long hard look at postal votes during elections. Even in other countries, postal voting has been open to electoral abuse. In Birmingham, a judge found rogue Labour activists and candidates tampered with forms. In the Malaysian context, postal voting certainly doesn’t inspire public confidence in the electoral process.

Mystery surrounds grants for Sibu churches

 Accountability, Christianity, Malaysian elections  21 Responses »
May 182010
 

Mystery surrounds the RM1.75 million in grants to four churches in Sibu – which could change the whole face of the controversy. What prompted the federal government to award the grants to these churches during the campaign? (The churches had reportedly applied for the grants quite some time ago.) Did government officials actually meet the leaders of these churches during the campaign before deciding to award the grants?  If there was such a meeting, was there an unsolicited government offer to award these grants during the campaign? Or more seriously, did the churches press for the funds to be granted?

Sibu Miracle: The morning after

 Christianity, M'sian politics, Malaysian elections  77 Responses »
May 172010
 

All right folks, after a good night’s sleep, I presume, let’s share some thoughts on the implications of the Sibu by-election result. It’s going to be a lot harder for the BN to use vote-buying tactics to win voters’ support especially in urban areas in future by-elections. Sibu voters have taught the BN a bitter lesson. Places of worship, religious institutions and independent schools should not accept grants from the government during election campaigns. This is outright vote-buying and the rejection of such offers sets a good example for their religious adherents or students and provides them a salutary lesson about standing up for ethics in public life. Read Goh Keat Peng’s excellent piece ‘We don’t take such money‘. Mr Goh, a prominent Christian figure who attends a Methodist Church, gives us much food for thought: “I respectfully appeal to the churches directly involved in this episode (of accepting grants): [Read more]

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