A civil society movement dubbed 'Jom Pantau!' (Let's Monitor!) has been launched by a NGO to monitor the next general election, based on rights demanded by the election reform coalition Bersih 2.0.

“The findings will be compiled and presented to the public, press and, especially, the Election Commission to take appropriate action,” said Arul Prakkash, citizenship and voter education programme coordinator of Pusat Komas .

       

polling day 080308 kulasegaran The Selangor-based NGO has been involved in election monitoring, documentation and voter education work since the 1990s.

It has organised human rights workshops and video screenings, and produced popular public education resource materials such as videos, comic books, posters, cartoons and pamphlets.

“We are calling for reliable and committed volunteers from the general public, civil society organisations and concerned individuals to work with Komas to monitor Malaysia’s 13th general election,” Arul said.

The monitoring will be guided by and based on the Bersih 2.0's eight key demands for clean, free and fair elections, in which Komas is part of the steering committee and also an endorsing organisation.

“We are in the process of setting up a web-based monitoring system which will be managed by Komas and its team of dedicated volunteers and friends,” added Arul.

A monitoring website was set up during the last Sarawak election by Komas and another election watchdog, Malaysian Election Observers Network, to collect and disseminate complaints on electoral irregularities.