'Thank you, John Malott, for a thorough demolition of the contrived lame excuses of the EC for not being a fair referee.'

Why EC's arguments are seriously flawed

Ksn: It is not just Election Commission's arguments that are flawed, but EC itself, considering the calibre, backbone and the independence of the commission.

The public are exposed to the EC chief (Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof) and the deputy chief (Wan Ahmad Wan Omar). But the EC has other members who make up the body.

We hardly know about them or hear from them. It will be interesting for the public to know who are the others who sit on and make up the rest of the EC.

Lexicon: Free and fair elections are vital to our future. After these first baby steps are taken, we can look forward to a more stable, more accountable political system, with less corruption.

We must also look into the funding of political parties and insist on a ceiling to spending on election campaigning. This reform is also long overdue in the United States and many more mature democracies.

Yeoh Chee Weng: Malott's intellect is lost on Umno appointees - their logical faculty is perverted by the fanatical nationalistic ‘ketuanan Melayu' temper of the appointees' master.

If a country is progressing intellectually, economically and socially, it would welcome praises and criticisms from everyone because its citizenry is matured to think meticulously - not programmed by years of propaganda and rote learning to react emotively and spews venom at a foreigner's perceived gall to criticise our ‘superiority'.

Ah Hoe: Wan Ahmad is symptomatic of the cause underlying the corroding malaise in Malaysian public institutions. He doesn't want to know what his responsibility as a senior official of the EC towards the Malaysian voters should be.

He refuses to recognise the mandated impartiality of the EC and that of his position. Pitifully, as demonstrated eruditely by Malott, Wan Ahmad lacks even the basic intellectualism to spin away his bias, but then (as mentioned at the very beginning) that deficiency is symptomatic of many Umno appointees to Malaysian public institutions.

Paul Warren: Up to the time my daughter was five whenever she asked ‘why', all I needed to say was ‘because'. That was it, and she was satisfied.

Now, shouldn't we all be pleased that the EC has gone way above that and actually conjured up an argument?

Ben-ghazi: Thank you, John Malott, for a thorough demolition of the contrived lame excuses of the EC for not being a fair referee.

Those of you who think the article is political; of course it is, as it discusses a Malaysian political institution - the EC which is appointed by the BN government, and answerable to them. In fact, the EC is placed under the PM's Department.

Tsc: The EC is feigning stupidity and incompetence in order to carry out the job of ensuring BN's victory.

A simple measure of using indelible ink will cut down many votes for BN as the persons tasked with multiple voting can't do that any more.

Armageddon: Wan Ahmad argues that the length of a campaign period is correlated to a country's size. Actually it is based on the size of the EC chief's brain. The smaller the brain, the shorter the campaign period.

EC: We may not accept all PSC's recommendations

Faz: EC deputy chief Wan Ahmad is a real example of the Malay idiom ‘bodoh sombong'. He does not even understand that the laws for the EC were made by the parliamentarians in order to govern the conduct of elections.

They were not carved in stone but can be changed/amended for the benefit of the electorate.

Sure, you have to study the proposals but if they will bring the desired results in terms of clean, fair and transparent elections, then change the laws. Is that too difficult to digest?

Parliamentarians are chosen by the voters to make laws. If the laws are not benefitting the voters, they must be changed. You are to work within the law to deliver what the voters want and not to dictate otherwise.

Do you really think that we, the voters, pay your salary to boss us around?

Bozo: Independent? My foot. You told us recently that you work under the umbrella of the government of the day and you take instructions from them. Don't flip-flop, like your BN boss.

Quigonbond: I'm stumped. Earlier, the EC deputy chief decried Bersih's pressure on EC saying they are merely an administrative body and that reforms need to come from Parliament.

Is he suggesting that even if Parliament approves the reform he is not going to implement it? How dare he? Has EC become law unto itself?

As to respect, I'm afraid to say, EC deserves none. Going by its record, the only experience EC has is one of closing a blind eye or even complicit to various forms of electoral fraud.

Honest: Wan Ahmad is behaving like his authority is more powerful than Parliament and smacks of arrogance. He also in the same breath insults Parliament. Some in power should be behind him for him to go to this extent.

Malaysians have to pray for him to be put in his place. Now I clearly see why there is an urgent need to institute a royal commission of inquiry on electoral reform. There is no other way.

Armageddon: Wan Ahmad said: "EC is an independent body formed under the Federal Constitution and free from the authority of other departments."

Yet at one point in time, the EC chief said that he has no power.

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