COMMENT Referees must not only act impartially but must be seen to be so.

Their bona fides as neutral interlocutors, favouring no side in enforcing the rules, must be beyond question. Otherwise their position as referee is untenable.

The old saw that justice must not only be done but seen to be done applies to any role requiring the mediation of a person vested with the task of holding the scales between competing interests in a balanced way.

In these roles, the appearance of being fair and doing what is fair are indivisible aspects of the same function, the one dovetailing nicely with the other - a seamless garment with no folds.

By these standards, the present chairman and secretary of the Election Commission (EC), Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof and Wan Ahmad Wan Omar respectively, now find their positions untenable...