The Election Commission in Malaysia needs more power to prevent one-sided campaign coverage in local media or the entire electoral system will become a "laughingstock," the commission's chairman said.
Top election official Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahim's comments on Friday appeared to lend rare support to opposition complaints of pro-government bias in the press.
"If you want free and fair elections ... you must be able to have that power to level that playground," Abdul Rahim, head of the Election Commission, said in an interview ahead of the March 8 general elections.
PHOTO: AP
"Without that power, then the whole system becomes a laughingstock," he said. The commission must be able "to control the media when they take sides."
It is rare for officials connected with the electoral process to speak so candidly about media bias. The comments are even more surprising coming from Abdul Rashid, who has been criticized by opposition parties for refusing to acknowledge that voting irregularities occur in the country.
"In an election you have to produce what is called an informed choice. That's the principle. People must know who is contesting so publicity must be given to all, not just one section. And there are media bodies that take only one side," he said.
The mainstream media in Malaysia are either government-owned or controlled by the parties in the ruling coalition. They also need annually to renew government licenses to operate. This has ensured that virtually every newspaper and TV station broadcasts flattering reports of the government. The opposition rarely gets a good mention in the papers.
The Election Commission (EC) is supposed to be an independent body, whose members are appointed by the constitutional monarch. But it is largely seen as a pro-government panel that has done little to promote electoral fairness.
Abdul Rashid indicated his hands are tied, saying the commission is in charge only of the electoral rolls and the polling process and has no power to control other irregularities, including vote-buying.
The laws need to be changed to give the commission more muscle, he said.
"Our [electoral] laws have been there for 50 years. After 50 years, I feel there must be some kind of review," he said. "There must be a law ... put in place where the EC is seen to be in full control."
Despite his frank comments that will likely be welcomed by the opposition, Abdul Rashid insisted the electoral process itself is free, fair and transparent.
He dismissed allegations that electoral rolls, which are vetted by the commission, are filled with names of dead people and people living in other constituencies. These names are used by bogus voters deployed by the ruling party, critics say.
"That never happens here. It cannot happen because the process -- the polling, the counting and so on -- is so transparent," he said.
"Cheating has never been proven anywhere in this country," he said, adding the few incidents of fraud that may have taken place have been minor.
Opposition groups reiterated demands for electoral reforms at a rally late on Friday in northeastern Terengganu state, where the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party's president, Abdul Hadi Awang, told a crowd of several thousand people there were "clear signs of cheating."
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS