THE planned Bersih 2.0 rally calling for improvements to Malaysia’s electoral system has been garnering mixed reactions. Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said police may arrest illegal demonstrators, even under the Internal Security Act, which allows for indefinite state detention without trial. Perkasa said they would demonstrate, too, to keep Bersih protesters from mischief. […]
Bersih 2.0
The EC’s folly
Shape of a Pocket by Jacqueline Ann Surin
WHAT will it take for the Election Commission (EC) of Malaysia to be independent? Or at the very least, to be seen as trying to be independent even if it can’t really be so, according to the EC’s own explanation? At a Bersih 2.0 public forum on 21 Feb 2011 in Petaling Jaya, what was […]
Uncommon Sense with Wong Chin Huat: Does Malaysian politics need a third force?
By Ding Jo-Ann
TALK has been rife recently of a “third force” in Malaysian politics. Civil society groups have proposed their own candidates for the 13th general election. Datuk Zaid Ibrahim wants to form a new political party. But is there room in Malaysian politics for a third force? What would it look like? And why is the […]
The importance of Bersih
Shape of a Pocket by Jacqueline Ann Surin
IT feels like only yesterday but it’s been three years this week since the historic Bersih rally of 10 Nov 2007 that demanded for free and fair elections. For certain, that 40,000 strong rally, together with the subsequent Hindraf demonstration in Kuala Lumpur, was partly responsible for the political tsunami of the 2008 general election. […]
