Bersih invites Anwar, Najib to present manifestos

Polls watchdog Bersih 2.0 has invited Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim and Barisan Nasional chairman Najib Tun Razak to present their respective coalition’s manifesto at a forum next week.

Bersih co-chairperson, S Ambiga, told reporters that Anwar has accepted the invitation, but Najib has yet to respond to her invitation through social media platform Twitter.

Regardless, she said, the public forum is to go on with or without Najib’s participation.

“We will try to do it as fairly as possible, and we hope to have a representative from both sides,” said Ambiga at a press conference here.

The forum will be held on April 17 at the Kuala Lumpur Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall. It will begin at 8.45pm and will be moderated by Islamic Renaissance Front chairman Dr Farouk Musa.

“It’s not a debate, just a forum. We don’t want anyone to be put off, we want everyone to be comfortable with the format,” said Ambiga.

Scare tactics cause for concern

On another matter, Ambiga said that she had received reports of people being told not to change the government to avoid widespread riots.

“This is being spread on the ground locally and we are going to keep an eye out on this. It is totally unacceptable.”

She also slammed BN for its billboards on highways asking voters whether they chose peace or chaos.

“Is that really the campaign BN wants to run? That must stop. We will make police reports about this,” vowed Ambiga.

She also condemned the police for stating they would use the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) to ensure polls ran smoothly.

Sosma, Ambiga said, was the legislation that replaced the controversial Internal Security Act and allows police to detain a suspect for 24 hours without a warrant.

Police may also remand the person for another 28 days for further investigation.

“The use of Sosma is not acceptable… we would like to see them instead act in instances of political violence that we raise,” she said.

Postal voters left out of the loop

Ambiga was also concerned about the early voting date (April 30) as well as polls date (May 5).

She stressed that the long gap between the two dates would render the indelible ink pointless as it lasted only three days upon use.

Postal voters from overseas were also not informed whether they were considered advanced voters, said Ambiga.

“I have received complaints from overseas voters not having received information on whether they have been confirmed as voters.

“They are not sure whether to return to Malaysia or to stay back or if they have even been registered,” she said.

She urged the Election Commission to release the list of local and overseas postal voters in order to clear the air over the matter. -MC