The 2007 Bersih Rally was a rally held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on November 10, 2007. Event organizers intended to have a peaceful, non-violent rally, advising participants in the days and weeks beforehand how to keep the rally peaceful. However the rally was marred by government sanctioned police violence. The aim of this walk was to campaign for electoral reform. It was precipitated by allegations of corruption and discrepancies in the Malaysian election system that heavily favor the ruling political party, Barisan Nasional, which has been in power since Malaysia achieved its independence in 1957.
BERSIH demanded :
1. Usage of Indelible Ink. (which has already been agreed to by the Electoral Commission).
This makes it much more difficult to commit electoral fraud by lodging more than one vote.
2. Clean-up of Registered Voters Roll.
The removal of, for example, deceased people from the Registered Voters Roll. Such erroneous entries are too easily abused for fraudulent electoral gain.
3. Abolition of Postal Votes.
These too are easily abused. The majority of postal votes at Malaysian elections come from Malaysian Public Servants working overseas as diplomats or peace keepers. It has been suggested that these public servants are routinely bullied into voting for a particular candidate by their employer.
4. Access to the Government controlled print and broadcast media for Opposition Parties.
This is perhaps the most important demand made by BERSIH. Opposition parties need the same access to Newspapers and Television that is afforded to the Government if they are to effectively communicate their policies to the Malaysian people.
These demands have been incorporated into the Memorandum for submission to Seri Paduka Baginda Yang Di-Pertuan Agong. The points can be seen on yellow BERSIH T-shirts worn by many participants during the rally. Yellow is the color that has been chosen to represent the BERSIH movement.
Retrieved from website on Nov 19, 2007.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Bersih_rally
November 19, 2007
BERSIH (Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections)
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3 comments:
Pak Lah missed a great opportunity to turn the tables on the opposition didn't he?
yo yo. suraya. i am impressed with your passionate writing on intellectual matters. kudos to you!
btw, have you signed up to vote? if u havent, shame on you!!!
murni. im afraid ure d one who is at lost. ive registered to vote earlier this year with haniza & shadz. u need at least 3 months for ur name to b processed n entitled 2vote.
i hope all of u have registered earlier. if u dun intend to vote, i hope u reconsider :]
p.s/ whtevr it is, if a gov is convinced their way is the right way to achieve high growth and income equality, evn a person like PakLah shud not hav d need to turn any tables :>
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