Electoral reforms that have been agreed upon by all quarters should be implemented immediately, well before the the next general election, says Bersih 2.0 chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan.

This is the position the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections is taking in response to the government’s announcement that all reforms proposed would be implemented only after being discussed and decided on by the soon-to-be-formed parliamentary select committee (PSC).

“Once all stakeholders have agreed, these are the things that can be implemented,” Ambiga said when contacted today.

indelible ink 020607 She was referring to three electoral reforms in particular - the use of indelible ink , granting voting rights to all overseas Malaysians and the cleaning up of the electoral roll.

The first two reforms have received support from both the Election Commission (EC) and de facto Law Minister Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz, who is also an Umno supreme council member.

However, Nazri said the cabinet wants all the proposals on electoral reform to be discussed and decided on by the bipartisan PSC, which will only be formed after the next Parliament session begins on Oct 3.

This has caused the momentum of the electoral reform campaign, which peaked during the Berish street rally of July 9, to almost come to a standstill.

Some detractors of the government believe the setting-up of the PSC, which is expected to be headed by a minister, is merely a gimmick for the ruling coalition to buy more time.

Pakatan Rakyat has yet to decide whether or not to join the PSC, claiming that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who proposed the PSC, has not shown his commitment to electoral reform.

Ambiga agreed that the establishment of the PSC would be to build consensus among all stakeholders, but several proposals agreed to by them could still be implemented while waiting for the PSC.

“We have a time issue here. The general election can be anytime between November and 2013. We don’t want any excuse from the government that the reforms cannot be implemented because they have not been decided by the PSC.”

azlan The former Bar Council president also pointed out that the PSC would be pointless unless all reforms could be implemented before the next election, because it will be dissolved together with the Parliament should the general election be called.

“If we have the luxury of time, then there is no harm waiting, but we don’t have it now.”

Ambiga stressed that several proposals raised by the EC should be implemented immediately, after consultations among the stakeholders.

“I don’t see any reason to wait for the PSC to sit. For example, the cleaning up of the electoral roll does not need to wait for the PSC. The EC can start doing it immediately. It just needs to work out the details.”

On the announcement by Nazri that the scope of PSC would be widened to look beyond the eight demands of Bersih 2.0, Ambiga welcomed it, and reiterated that the eight demands must materialise in the next general election.