The battered public credibility and integrity of the EC can only be restored by appointing the Chairman of the PSC from the Opposition, replacing the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of EC as well as respecting the principle of “One-Person, One-Vote, One-Value”
Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s attempts to restore the battered public credibility and integrity of the EC by placing it under parliamentary oversight will not work unless it is accompanied by 3 critical success factors:-
Appoint an opposition member to head the bipartisan Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on EC;
Replace the EC’s chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Yusuf and his deputy Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar with fresh faces that must be approved by Parliament; and
Respect the principle of “One-Person, One-Vote, One-Value”.
No real change can be effected unless these 3 critical success factors are fulfilled. Otherwise it would be just like the previous PSC on Elections before 2013 general elections, which was intended to whitewash the impartiality and biasedness of the EC in running the dirtiest elections in Malaysian history. Not only did the EC ignored the recommendations of the previous PSC, the EC Chair and Deputy Chair spent most of their time attacking PR during and after the general elections.
Both also disgraced the entire democratic process by using an indelible ink that did not last for 3 days but could be easily washed off almost immediately. As the EC had always reported to the Prime Minister’s Department, no one was surprised that the EC Chairman and Deputy Chairman openly sided with BN.
EC has refused to heed public anger who wanted answers as to how PR can lose the 2013 general elections and won only 40% of parliamentary seats despite winning 51% of the popular votes. That is the reason the new appointments to EC must be approved by Parliament to ensure that this proposed migration of powers from the Prime Minister to Parliamentary oversight is not a cosmetic change but an effective and transformative change.
