YOURSAY | ‘How is it that even a gov’t-appointed body cannot be observers?’

EC rejects Suhakam's request to observe GE14

Gerard Lourdesamy: One government body is telling another government body to stay out. This is highly improper and suspicious. Is the Election Commission (EC) afraid of the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam)?

Just look at the observers invited. All have zero credibility, except for Timor Leste and maybe Indonesia.

Instead of inviting observers from the Commonwealth Secretariat, the United Nations and European Union, the EC has decided to scrape the bottom of the barrel in selecting these dubious nations to send observers.

What happened to the observers from India, Pakistan and New Zealand? Australia turned down the invitation.

The EC is becoming the most-hated institution in Malaysia. If the elections are not free and fair by international standards as mandated by the UN, the rakyat will not respect, let alone accept, the results.

Undecided: Every passing day there seem to be more reasons to believe that the EC has now become an arm of the government rather than an independent institution.

This barring of Suhakam as election observers makes no sense. The EC chairperson has blatantly ignored what is considered fair.

The heads of such institutions, together with those who conspired with them to block the aspirations of the rakyat to have a fair election, must be prosecuted by the new government should Pakatan Harapan win.

Clever Voter: Beyond the modern high-rise buildings and infrastructure lies a crude, third-class and feudal system fuelled and resourced by a corrupt regime with no respect for governance and moral standards.

What more can we describe an agency which has repeatedly acted in favour of one ruler, i.e. BN? This is disgraceful.

Yet, for the caretaker prime minister, this is another convenient way to save the skins of self-serving politicians.

Benjawi: We are truly a third-world country if the countries the EC has invited to observe the election are those that are not well-known for their human rights records.

The EC dare not invite observers from developed countries because it knows that our election will not make the grade.

Perhaps these developed countries are refusing to come to observe because they don’t want to offend the BN government with their unsavoury reports later because of trade and commercial interests.

But it is unbelievable that the EC has refused the participation of Suhakam, a local body. Certainly, it shows that the EC has everything to hide.

Love God n Do Gd: If you have nothing to hide, you will have nothing to fear. You would welcome observers, because they would help to see that no one will cheat.

We want our leaders to be honest and truthful.

Raja: The EC could have used this opportunity to show they are impartial by appointing Suhakam. They have indeed lost their last ground of defence.

Ravinder: This is baffling. Why does the EC not trust Suhakam?

Is it because Suhakam has been critical of EC's actions that are not consistent with its publicly declared status of being an "independent" body?

So, only those who are supportive of the EC's creating a grossly uneven field - in other words, those who praise the EC's incumbent-supporting tactics - are eligible to be invited to be the observers of its handiwork and endorse it.

Suhakam does not toe the EC's line, so it is unfriendly to the EC, and therefore unfit to observe EC's work.

What a shame that a Malaysian human rights body created by the government is unfit to observe elections conducted by an agency under the Prime Minister's Department.

Cogito Ergo Sum: Is there no end to the dirty tricks that the EC employs to ensure BN is returned to power?

It is going against the will of the people and the backlash on the commission will be catastrophic when Harapan wins.

Are there no more good men and women left in our institutions of governance? All it takes is one good man or woman to stop this slide into oblivion. We need that person now more than ever. Put a stop to this theft of a nation’s destiny.

'BN can still contest polls despite Umno court challenge'

Anonymous_c9b96c38: The Registrar of Societies (ROS) did not approve the Harapan coalition because Bersatu, a registered legal society, was suspended by ROS. So there can be no coalition with an illegal component party.

Likewise, if Umno is declared illegal, the entire BN coalition is rendered illegal. Component parties have to submit fresh applications and elect new office-bearers from the remaining component party members.

Current BN office-bearers are null and void as no Umno member can be an office-bearer of BN. That is how I see it.

Malaysian-United: I agree with the other commenters that the BN chairperson has no legal authority to act for the BN coalition, since he no longer has the legal authority as the Umno president given that Umno has ceased to be a lawful political party.

This lawyer's assessment of the legitimacy of the BN coalition going into the elections is fundamentally flawed, and no one can change that fact.

Caripasal: BN is an illegal coalition without Umno. Indeed, this is precisely the excuse given by the ROS for refusing to register Harapan when Bersatu was declared illegal.

It is truly karma. Whatever decision made by ROS is now biting them back.

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