Rasah MP Anthony Loke today defended the three Pakatan Rakyat MPs who had been slammed for allegedly not stressing enough in their work on the parliamentary select committee (PSC) for electoral reform that changes must be implemented before the 13th general election.

NONE When contacted, Loke said the three Pakatan MPs had on several occasions made clear to the PSC that its core recommendations, particularly relating to Bersih 2.0's demands, should be implemented before polls are called.

“You can check the Hansard , we have said in almost every PSC meeting that the recommendations must be implemented before the general election.

“But we must accept the fact that we are a minority in the PSC and we cannot overrule the others,” he said.

NONE Loke (left in photo ), together with Gombak MP Azmin Ali and Kuala Krai MP Hatta Ramli ( right in photo ), are the three Pakatan MPs who sat on the seven-member PSC.

He was responding to Bersih 2.0 co-chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan’s complaint that Pakatan MPs in the PSC failed to emphasise in the PSC report and particularly in its minority report that key election reforms must be implemented before the next general election.

‘Short deadline for minority report’

While admitting that the minority report did not specify its five proposals should be implemented before the next general election, it did include a fairly short time frame that would allow them to be carried out before the 13th general election.

“If you look at the report, most of the recommendations, we fixed a time frame of 15 to 30 days, the highest was 45 days, so even if the election is held in June all this can be done before then,” he said.

This was in contrast to the PSC report which provided for a time frame extending several months and would render the recommendations impossible to implement before the next general election if early polls are called.

Loke added that other long-term reforms such as political funding would also require more time.