Election observers gets more foreign support than local

While many would say that having an official election observer for the coming election is a great first step forward, the PEMERHATI has already observed areas to improve on.

PEMERHATI (Coalition of 13th General Election Observers) is made up of four NGOs appointed by the Election Commission to monitor GE13.

The NGOs are namely: Centre for Public Policy Studies (CPPS), Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS), Malaysia Confederation of the Disabled (MCD), Merdeka Center for Opinion Research (Merdeka Center).

Firstly, there seems to have been more foreign financial support for the organisation compared to local funding.

“We don't get any funding from Malaysia, (but) there are a few international foundations that have contributed to our partner NGOs,” said CPPS director Ng Yeen Seen, who admitted that this was a challenge.

She hoped that there would be individuals or corporate bodies who can offer financial aid, if not to work as election volunteers.

Ng also said that there were several areas which can be improved on over such an exercise, including drawing up a legal framework whereby election observers can better operate.

“The effort by the Election Commission (EC) now to appoint domestic observers is a good step forward to improving the democratic governance of our country.”

“(But) we are definitely hoping that our electoral laws can be more encompassing and in line with international observation standards,” she said.

Ng pointed out that the four NGOs have to work within the guidelines and rules set by EC for election observers, some of which differ from international standards.

“Firstly, there are clearly set boundaries set for observers in other countries. But in Malaysia, this is the first time, so we will slowly evolve,” she said.

Ng also said that PEMERHATI is not supposed to take photographs while internationally, it is normally allowed.

“We are also not allowed to make any pre-announcements to the media until our report is submitted to the Election Commission. But once we do that, it will be a public document immediately,” she said.

Another condition set by EC is that all allegations of misconducts must obtain a response from the EC. “(But) they have promised to deal with every inquiry and we’ll see if they do that,” she said.

Meanwhile, IDEAS associate director Keeran Sivarajah said that response from the state-to-state recruitment has been very enthusiastic.

“For example, when we went to Kelantan, we planned to observe only three seats there but the response was so overwhelming that we can now observe the whole state,” he said.

Keeran urged observers to sign up online as due date for submitting names of volunteers is March 10.

He said that based on the funding available currently, about RM150,000, PEMERHATI is able to observe only 42 seats out of its target of 70.