A group of international election observers have offered their services to the Election Commission (EC), only to be told that they would be welcome at the 13th general election... as tourists.

 

“I would avail of any opportunity to come to this beautiful country and the beautiful, polite and wonderful people of Malaysia, but I think our role as observers would not be fulfilled in that capacity,” said Muslim American Election Observers Committee spokesperson Dr Inayat Malik.

NONE Inayat (left) was relating the group’s visit to the EC on Jan 8 during a press conference in Subang today, at the end of a three-day fact-finding mission.

He, along with two others Dr Mirza Baig and Mazen Asbahi, are here at the invitation of  opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

 

However, Inayat stressed that the delegation is impartial and that all expenses were paid out of their own pockets.

In addition, he said he would have welcomed a similar invitation from the government.

Besides the EC, the group said they had also met representatives from the opposition and civil society groups.

 

The EC has previously said that it would invite several local NGOs to monitor the upcoming election, and is considering having observers from other Asean countries as well.

 

However three of the local NGOs have pulled out, with one citing lack of experience on the matter, while the other two disagreed with conditions imposed on them.

Among the conditions, the most controversial is a restriction preventing observers from disclosing their findings to the press during the election.

When asked if it is the norm to impose conditions on election observers, Inayat replied in the affirmative, but said such conditions should be negotiated between the EC and the observers.

NONE “The observing party has to feel comfortable that they can discharge the obligations that they have as observers in a meaningful fashion.

“If the restrictions prevent them from doing it, I would not blame the party for saying, ‘We do not want to participate’,” he said.

Speaking on the group’s findings, Inayat said the group endorses the findings of another international fact-finding mission that visited in April last year, coinciding with the Bersih 3.0 rally.

In particular, he said there is a need to ensure “free and fair access to the mainstream media”.

“The media here seems totally reflective of one viewpoint... Reading the newspapers since we have been here, that becomes very clear.

“There is very little projection of diverse viewpoints. There is a projection of one viewpoint from different angles but all leading towards the same viewpoint. I think that can be unhealthy,” he said.

Inayat added that this is the area that Malaysia needs to make the most progress to ensure free and fair elections, because one of the cornerstones of democracy is a media that can criticise its government.

He said he had expressed this concern to the EC, but was told that it was beyond the EC’s power.

Powers to do 'everything possible'

However, he noted that EC has powers to do “everything possible” to ensure free and fair elections under the federal constitution.

“So to us, they could invoke that right and tell the government (via the Information Ministry) and they could communicate with the print and broadcast media.

"Somebody needs to do that. If nobody in the government is doing it, we feel that it is the duty of the EC to say,’'We see this as a hindrance to free and fair elections in this country. We want the government to do something’, instead of ‘We won’t do anything. We don’t have any power’.

"Well, they (the government) have the power to revoke their licences. I think that is power enough to bring about some change," he said.

He said that international observers play an important role in ensuring the integrity of an election, because it shows that the government has nothing to hide.

 

“Having a transparent election is more than having a transparent ballot box,” he added.

The other concerns are regarding the integrity of the electoral roll, and that there should be a caretaker government before the elections being held to ensure that government powers are not abused to affect election results.

When asked to comment on views that casting doubt on the electoral roll is a means of paving the way to questioning election results if they are not in favour of the opposition, Inayat said, “What you need to do is to prevent that possibility by addressing those concerns ahead of the elections. That is the way to do it.”

Inayat added that Malaysia has the potential to set standards of what a democratic Muslim-majority democracy should be, and hopes that it can live up to that potential especially as democratic movements sweep across the Muslim world but examples to follow are few.

He said that while Malaysia has made much economic progress, political progress is equally important.

“In the long run, that is what ensures what ensures and sustains the economic progress, the viability, and the growth of the country.

“If you don't have political progress, there is a risk of jeopardising the economic progress that the country has made,” he said.