YOURSAY | 'How is lopsided drawing of electoral boundaries fair?'

EC chief: Elections are fair and Bersih knows this

Ghostwhowalks: Goodness me! Election Commission (EC) chairperson Mohd Hashim Abdullah is saying '3 = 1' and we all as expected to say, "Yes," is that it? It's all about simple arithmetic, and yet he could say everything is fair in a blink an eye.

Just tell us why is it some rural votes is worth three times that of one urban vote. And while you are at it, also please explain why you are shifting voters out of their normal place of voting based on ethnicity.

Shamsulselamat: This sounds like Donald Trump doubling down on his indefensible lies.

Just look at the lopsided delineation of constituencies throughout Malaysia. Any fair minded person would conclude that parliamentary powers are disproportionately stacked against all urban centres in favour of the rural areas.

This is what Mohd Hashim called fair.

If this is the standard by which fairness is defined, no one needs to talk about being treated unfairly - ever.

TimesAchanging: He didn't say a word about those boundary changes. There is no need to steal ballot boxes when you already cheated with the boundary changes.

Bystander: This EC chairperson is good with putting words into Bersih's mouth and we should put a pretzel hotdog in his.

Hang Babeuf: The Klang Valley water supply sometimes delivers water adequately to everybody. At other times it does not. So it works for some of the people some of the time; does this mean this it is a well-functioning, reliable system not needing any basic fixing?

The same logic applies to the electoral system.

The fact that it sometimes works, and some opposition people get elected, does not vindicate the entire system, or prove its fairness or adequacy.

An intelligent EC chair would see that and take the matter to heart. But this one doesn't. Is it his intelligence that's lacking? Or can he not allow himself to see the failure over which he presides? Either way, he prefers to defend the indefensible.

Victor Johan: Mohd Hashim Abdullah, you are the EC chairperson. You report to the Prime Minister's Office, meaning that you are not independent. You are claiming that the electoral reform group Bersih's constant claims that elections in Malaysia are unfair is untrue.

Why don't you appear on an independent forum together with a Bersih's representative and representatives from the BN government and the opposition Pakatan Harapan and other distinguished electoral experts and have a debate?

Let the Malaysian voters and the 'whole wide world' hear you present your case. Writing your own opinion piece and having it published in Umno-owned Mingguan Malaysia is certainly unprofessional and an act of cowardice.

Utusan urges Putrajaya to 'blacklist' Bersih's sponsors

Hang Babeuf: Utusan Malaysia and those dutiful Umno ministers continue with their inane chorus that Bersih "should not try to overthrow a democratically elected government by street rallies". That is, by popular protest action on the nation’s streets, meaning in its most recognisable public spaces and emblematic places.

If they think they have the numbers, popular support - so these Umno political "philosophers" and mouthpieces chant - then Bersih should use the ballot, have recourse alone to the mechanism of elections, the EC-run electoral system, to change the government.

Yet, what is the Bersih complaint, its signature claim and cause? They - together with many more people who are not Bersih "groupies" - hold that the Malaysian electoral system is, by now, hopelessly broken and totally rotten.

So the Umno and Utusan "advice" unfailingly proffered to Bersih to have recourse solely to, and to place their entire trust in, EC-run elections is either spectacularly obtuse or else in bad faith.

And further, if the existing election system in its present form is irremediably broken and rotten, then the ruling power that it installs arguably lacks genuine popular legitimacy, and so cannot properly be called "democratically elected".

The urging to "go instead to the elections system" is a fine example of a self-negating circular argument.

Drngsc: Democracy has been dead in Malaysia for a long time. This government is NOT democratically elected. We only have democracy in name, but nor in substance.

Democracy has been so badly corrupted by the ruling party that it is no longer a democracy. We are more accurately a kleptocratic oligarchy.

Dictators steal our money at will, and use the money to buy votes. That is why we need Bersih, to clean up the electoral system and re-establish democracy.

The government should stop taking part in businesses. That should be left to the market.

Sponsors can support whomever they wish. Let market forces decide whether these companies will survive or not. Of course, you are afraid that Bersih may succeed and this present corrupt government gets voted out.

Ipohcrite: Bersih is merely calling for fair and just elections, and to prevent further gerrymandering by the incumbent government through the EC. Nothing wrong with that and, in fact, it serves a truly noble cause.

In calling for the government to blacklist sponsors of Bersih, Utusan has confirmed itself to be a stark enemy of the rakyat by being a shameless instrument of a disingenuous government that is bent to win at all costs.

EPU minister to track down 'pro-Bersih' businesses

Behsaikong: Why can't anyone or private companies support a peaceful programme or a civil society group that holds peaceful programmes?

Cabinet ministers should better understand that they are government servants paid by the people, which means they answer to the people - all the people - and not just the people of the political party they belong to.

Merdeka: Will the government do background checks on businessman Jho Lo and the prime minister's stepson Riza Aziz too, before giving them government contracts?

Oscar Kilo: Hello? How about background checks on 1MDB? Aabar BVI (British Virgin Islands)? Good Star Ltd?

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