Friday 30 September 2016

1MDB PM Najib’s Umno-led BN embraces corruption and dirty national polls?

Updated: See bottom of story from malaysiakini

1MDB PM Najib’s Umno-led BN embraces corruption and dirty national polls?

So, just what are the Umno Red Shirt thugs protesting? What are they so afraid of?

It is baffling that the law continues to tolerate and endorses the acts of the racial and religious bigots or thugs by taking no stern action against them thus far.

Why must the Umno thugs be allowed to create public disturbance? Can’t they just conduct their own peaceful protests or organise their own convoys?

Perhaps, no one or Malaysian would bother to take notice of their actions and cause, so they need to behave like hooligans and harass others for attention.

And the knows-no-shame 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) Prime Minister Najib Razak’s Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) federal government continues to take no notice of such hooligans who are also threatening national unity.

Is BN endorsing the actions of the Red Shirts who are actually saying they do not want Bersih (Clean)? They want corruption and dirty general elections?

Read this report by online news portal Free Malaysia Today (FMT) and judge for yourself if the Red Shirts are just plain political thugs or lackeys:


"Red Shirts ‘harass Bersih convoy’ in Lumut
Robin Augustin

| October 1, 2016

Activist Ivy Josiah says more than 40 Red Shirt members' on motorcycles and in cars target the car carrying her, Tian Chua and another lawyer.



PETALING JAYA: Bersih reform group activists reported tense moments in Lumut, Perak, when Red Shirt supporters harassed a convoy of cars which were part of a nationwide campaign to publicise the Bersih 5.0 rally next month.

“They shouted Mati Bersih (Die Bersih), and at one point, one of their cars actually overtook us and blocked our car, resulting in a slight knock,” said human rights activist Ivy Josiah.

The Red Shirted driver of the other car got out and began circling their car, but they remained calm and stayed in their car, later driving around the Red Shirt car and proceeding with their journey to Teluk Intan.

She was travelling in a car with Batu MP Tian Chua, his driver and Meera Samanther, president of the Association of Women Lawyers.

Josiah told FMT that the trouble began after the launch of the Lumut convoy.

Police had kept Red Shirt members and Bersih activists apart at the launching ceremony. But when the convoy took to the road, Red Shirt supporters went after the convoy, which consisted of some 12 vehicles draped in Bersih flags.

She said some 40 Red Shirt supporters on motorcycles and in cars began targeting cars in the Bersih convoy, screaming at the occupants and pulling off the flags on the car.

“They were very aggressive and provocative,” Josiah said.

She said that others in the convoy had also told them that they faced similar harassment, with some on motorcycles thumping the car windows with their fists.

Bersih 2.0 chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah told FMT that Bersih activists in Padang Besar, Perlis, had reported that one Bersih supporter had been pelted with a stone, allegedly thrown by a Red Shirt supporter.

She said she was very disappointed with this, adding that there was no need for them to act like gangsters.

Earlier this week, Red Shirt leader Jamal Yunos launched “Merah V2” — a campaign aimed at countering the electoral watchdog’s Bersih 5 convoys, which are being flagged off at various towns and cities.

Jamal said members of the Red Shirts movement were set to “descend” on all locations announced by Bersih 2.0.

The objective of the Bersih 5 Convoy is to raise awareness of the need for institutional reforms and the severity of the 1MDB crisis.
"

"Electoral reform group Bersih has reiterated the need for the Election Commission (EC) to introduce automatic voter registration.

This was amid mad scramble to register voters with the expectation that the general election may be held in the first quarter of next year.

“There has been too much misinformation over the past few weeks over deadlines to register to vote and false mechanisms to register through WhatsApp or SMS.

“Bersih believes this misinformation is due to the systematic failure of the Election Commission to facilitate voter registration.

“Bersih repeats its long-held demand to introduce automatic voter registration, based on information already held by the National Registration Department,” it said in a statement today.

It further pointed out that automatic voter registration was one of the recommendations in the 2012 report by the parliamentary selection committee on electoral reform.

“The automated process will further assist in ensuring voters are registered with the correct and up-to-date addresses.

“In the long run it will lead to a more accurate electoral roll,” it said.

Bersih said at present, there are some four million eligible citizens that have yet to be registered as voters.

It notes that the EC had, after the last general election, made it increasingly difficult for political parties and NGOs to register new voters by blocking their applications to be assistant registrar officers.

“At the current rate of registration by the EC, there is little chance of this number being reduced before the next general election,” it said.

Bersih said that the EC cannot abdicate its role in ensuring Malaysians can exercise their democratic right to vote.

He also pointed out that automatic voter registration did not equal to compulsory voting.

“Automatic voter registration gives people the option to vote on polling day without having to find the time and resources to register months in advance,” it said.

There had been a mad rush to register voters before Sept 30 based on the belief that those who do not have their names in the third quarter electoral roll will not be able to vote if the election falls on the first quarter of next year.

However, EC chairperson Hashim Abdullah today clarified that those who registered after Sept 30 will have their names included in the fourth quarter of 2016 electoral roll.

He also urged citizens not to wait until the last minute to register as voters.

Bersih reiterates need for automatic voter registration amid rush for GE14

‘There has been too much misinformation over the past few weeks,’ says the polls reform group.

MALAYSIAKINI.COM
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