The Bersih steering committee has brushed aside former DAP national vice-chairperson Tunku Abdul Aziz Ibrahim's call to sign a pledge to ensure that the upcoming election would be peaceful.

NONE This is because the committee has been committed to peaceful elections all along, and Tunku Abdul Aziz ( left ) should instead look elsewhere for possible sources of "chaos" at the polls, it pointed out.

"Given the obvious instances of political violence and smear campaigns that go unchecked, we believe the source of the possible ‘chaos' lies elsewhere," the committee said in a statement yesterday.

It was referring to a letter it claimed came from Abdul Aziz mailed on April 11, in which he questions Bersih's neutrality, accusing the pro-electoral reform group of intending to disrupt the polls, and urged it to sign a pledge to keep the election peaceful.

"We do not see how we can even entertain any such request given his outrageous allegations against us.

"In any event, Bersih does not have to sign a pledge for a peaceful process on election day.

"That has always been our stand and that is reaffirmed in all the training and voter education that we conduct," the committee said, denouncing the allegations as "wholly untrue".

The committee also urged Tunku Abdul Aziz, Transparency International Malaysia Chapter's former president, to ensure that the Election Commission (EC) is transparent, accountable, and impartial.

They said he should also pay attention to cases of political violence and smear campaigns.