MGG Pillai Commentary View

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Is the Election Commission destroying our democracy?

THE ELEVENTH GENERAL ELECTION is at hand. But unlike the ten past elections, it is held in so tight restrictions that the purpose of why an election is lost. The Election Commission puts every impediment in the way with petty restrictions, raise the deposits so high that it is burden for any political party wanting to field candidates in all state and parliament seats. It restricts a wider choice by making it so expensive for all to contest. The once nominal deposit, to prevent frivolous candidacies, is now RM15,000 for parliament and RM8,000 for the state assembly; it has risen gradually over the years from RM500 and RM250, and is a serious financial burden for any political party wanting to contest in all 219 and 509 state constituencies. The nomination papers cost RM20 each; there is a further deposit to ensure the posters are removed after the polling. It insists Parliament imposed the rules, and it has no control over it.

Not true. The EC is a statutory body to conduct elections. The changes to the electoral laws is at its, not the government's, direction. The government presents the bill in Parliament, but it is the EC which demands it. In Malaysia, this is the theory. In fact, the government decides for the EC. Even the nomination and polling dates of March 13 and March 21 is decided by the government. All that the electoral law says is a minimum of eight days between nomination and polling. If the EC wants a fair and honest election, why does it take the minimum as the standard?

It insists it should be the minimum. It totes out the usual suspects why it must: racial clashes, public security, and other dubious reasons. It is for this public rallies are banned. But when it is not election time, public rallies are held regularly, with or without police permits, by the government and Opposition without any sign of political or racial uncertainty. Let us not forget we had public rallies during the worst time in our history: during the Communist Emergency, in the midst of confrontation with Indonesia. The politics were more heated then, but apart from the usual breach of the peace nothing untoward happened. This official fear is a manufactured fear, after the racial riots that followed the 1969 general election, to justify what in fact is an UMNO coup in the massive constitutional changes after that. Its aim was two fold: to prevent the non-Malays, especially the Chinese, from holding the government to ransom, and to ensure the government would forever be Malay, if not UMNO, run and dominated.

Let us not forget that the Malay in Malaysia is defined by the Constitution: to be one, amongst other qualifications, he must be a Muslim. In other words, the Prime Minister of Malaysia can only be a Malay. PAS puts it another way: he must be a Muslim. Both UMNO and PAS agree on this: in Malaysia a Malay must be a Malay. But one gives the impression that a non-Malay can be prime minister, the other that any Muslim can be prime minister. Both are sugar coatings to keep the non-Malay happy.

The EC over the years is beholden to the Government of the day. During the 1969 General Election, the then Prime Minister, Tengku Abdul Rahman Putra, was often miffed with the EC chairman, Tan Sri Megat Khas, who insisted upon conducting the election as honestly and fairly as he could. The two were close friends, but the Tengku appointed Dr Megat Khas for his fierce independence and integrit. But each respected the other. But once the National Operations Council was formed - and, lest we forget, the secretay to that body was one Abdullah Ahmad Badawi - all nonsense about an independent EC was consigned to history. The EC is its creature, and it would dance to its tune, while insisting its statutory status and its impartiality and independence.

It is a fact of life in Malaysia today that any one who insists he is impartial and independent tells you he is not; it is a mantra he must repeat so he would not forget his place when he meets Opposition political parties and overseas guests. In the 35 years since, it is reduced to carry out what it wants, its role to ensure the BN is returned with minimal loss. It is clear the EC misread the political situation in the runup to the polls. It assumed nothing would change, the BN is home dry in any general election. So, its chairman, Tan Sri Abdul Rashid bin Abdul Rahman, began his charade to be fair to the Opposition, to allow those convicted to stand if their final appeals are not over or if a pardon is pending, only to eat his words soon after. His excuse this time is that he did not take legal advice! I would have thought for one who had been involved in the conduct of election for so long, he should have this on his fingertips.

The new electoral rules narrow public debate in Malaysian elections even further. When the campaign is reduced to a fortnight or less, a candidate has no time to set base and make himself known, especially in the rural areas, where the distances are vast and the people few. He has no time to meet the people, and with political rallies banned, must do with discussing issues in small groups, called ceremahs. It is unsatisfactory, and the voter cannot make his choice. He is told it is the party, not the individual, that matters, and he should vote for the party which can form the government. But the voter on the ground, with few exceptions, want to know the man or woman.

Once the elections are over, he would often not be seen or heard in the constituency until it is time to vote again. And the charade begins. In the 1980s, when my MP was from the MCA, I wanted to discuss a pressing problem with him, not as a journalist but as a voter. I could not get him. I left messages on several days, and one day an MIC apparatchik called me to ask what I wanted. It is the MP I want to meet. Don't worry, he said, I take care of all Indian matters. I said he is then wasting his time. Since the man who had the problem was a Spaniard, I asked him to send the MP's Spanish representative! The MP did not last, indeed went to jail for some corrupt crimes. But this is usually how elected BN MPs deal with their constituents. The Opposition MPs are better, but some can be as arrogant and difficult as the BN MPs.

One get the distinct impression that elections are held at, and for, the EC's convenience. The time alloted for nominations is halved to one hour. It ignores the horrendous traffic jams, the long distances a candidate or his representative must travel, especially in the rural areas and in Sarawak and Sabah, and normal emergencies that could delay a candidate. In an autocratic state, as Sabah when the late Tun Mustapha led the state BN, he would stop opposition candidates from turning up to be a candidate with ever ingenious means: one he chained with a dog collar under his own house to release him after nominations closed. This is why nominations should be for longer hours than allowed. Why not allow that to be filed within a few days before nominations close, as it is in India? In this election, the candidates are allowed to withdraw from the campaign within 72 hours with his deposit intact.

This means the campaign does not begin until after, reducing it even further. The EC would not admit to it, but it is to enable candidates to withdraw for a consideration. The people of Sabah are quick to catch on to such loopholes: more than 2,000 collected their nomination papers, taking part in the polls so they could be bought off and without losing their deposit. But this restricts the electoral process. This does worry the EC. Recounts would now be the next day. The ballots would be locked and guarded and only election scrutineers would be allowed then, not the candidate's representatives. The EC's role is so contested that the immediate view of many I talked to is so it would ensure a BN victory. It many not be, but if this is how this change is viewed, and few would accept the final result. All it does is to give the EC a longer rope to hang democracy. But is that what the general election is all about in Malaysia?

[I wrote this for my column in the special issue of Harakah, out today, 16 March 2004.]

M.G.G. Pillai

pillai@streamyx.com