YOURSAY 'Rashid is denigrating the work of the PSC to puff up his own work. But it's too late in the day for him to play the reformer.'

Rashid: PSC proposals can be done 'within a week'

Cannon: Malaysians can now see why these Umno leaders fear Bersih 2.0 to the extent of outlawing a civil movement standing for transparent, free and fair elections.

The bulldozing through of the Peaceful Assembly Bill in Parliament and the formation of the parliamentary select committee (PSC) are the direct results of Bersih.

The regime is fending off public pressure to defuse the rising chorus of dissent over the rigging of our electoral system and the threat of further demonstrations. Umno is fighting to shore up its defences by maintaining its control over the Election Commission (EC).

By former EC chief Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman's own admission, the PSC's proposals are really not a big deal and could easily be implemented in a week. But it had to take a massive demonstration and a PSC to extract these proposed changes from a flaccid and impotent EC.

It's people power that will drive change, not this cunning, crooked and reactionary regime.

Rashid ‘kowtowed' to the chief executive knowing full well that the subservience of the EC tilted the playing field in favour of Umno-BN and gave the incumbent regime a huge, unfair advantage over the opposition.

This man found his voice after leaving office when Umno-BN regime is about to topple over from its excesses. He is denigrating the work of the PSC to puff up his own work and whitewash his legacy.

But it's too late in the day for him to play the reformer. He will be remembered as an Umno-crat, complicit in undermining our electoral process, which today is neither clean, free nor fair.

Anonymous: "I suggested changes here and there, but for structural changes, it would disrupt my relationship with the government. I had to be careful because if there would be a split with the government the atmosphere will not be healthy," said Abdul Rashid.

This is confirmation that the EC is indeed not independent, it is controlled by the government, this EC is therefore illegal, and we require a royal commission to look into this. If not, I think it's time to call for another Bersih.

Kee Thuan Chye: What is Rashid talking about? Why did he have to maintain good relationship with the government when he was EC chief?

Surely, the job of an EC chief is not that? Surely, the job of the EC chief is not to humour the government, make it feel good? And not to keep the atmosphere "healthy"?

The bottom line is, did he push for changes? If he can now say the electoral laws are not good enough, why didn't he push to change them? Why didn't he try to make the EC independent? Talk is cheap now.

Ghkok: It proves once again that all the institutions of governance are controlled by Umno-BN. There is no more independence.

It is no different from Mubarak's Egypt, Ben Ali's Tunisia, Gaddafi's Libya, Assads' Syria. This is a result of 54 years of one-party rule - dominance, control, oppression, repression, suppression and tyranny.

The crucial question is: Must electoral change come before the next election or should regime change take place first?

Jesse: It is now confirmed from the horse's mouth that the EC was beholden to the government, and still is.

All the excuses given for not reforming the system is directed towards maintaining the status quo which heavily favours BN. It demonstrates that Bersih is right all along to ask for reform and the rakyat involved in that mass movement were hammered by the sycophant police.

FellowMalaysian: Rashid, you are certain that what is suggested by the PSC merely involved election rules and will only take a week to implement? What if someone refused to be marked by indelible ink and sued you for stopping him from exercising his voting rights?

Are you not concerned now of security issues that the opposition parties may abuse the use of the ink just as you had claimed in the 2008 election and had thus caused millions of public funds to be washed down the drain?

Manjit Bhatia: More than meets the eye, eh, Mr Rashid? Why didn't you say during your tenure that 'something' was wrong, and why didn't you do something about the crooked electoral laws then?

Was it because Umno-BN controlled you and EC in general by your short-and-curlies? Now you say it's easy to change these laws - within a week - simply on the back of signing off the changes, you claim.

So why is the current EC still reluctant to move on changing these electoral laws? No power, that's why, as you claim.

Not that it hasn't the power, because it has. It's just that the EC was captured by Umno-BN, to whom all EC powers were surrendered, and the EC's hierarchy have been bowing like constipated fools to their Umno paymasters.

It's all well and good for you to come out now and say all these things, sounding like you're a reincarnated reformist, but your track record stinks.

Blogsmith: Rashid said that "when he was EC chief, he had proposed changes but could not touch on structural reforms as he had to maintain his relationship with the government."

Here is a clear admission that Rashid and the EC bow to executive pressure and commands..

The big question here is why only now Rashid comes out as a real reformer when he doesn't have the power to do anything anymore.

But in any case, as they say, it's better late than never and I hope Rashid will lend his shoulder to help push for the required reforms.

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