Bersih praises the pro-democracy manifesto involving four political coalitions
NURFARDLINA IZZATI MOKTAR12 Nov 2022 05:06pm
Screenshot of the Bersih media release.
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According to the Bersih Steering Committee, the manifesto involved Barisan Nasional (BN), Pakatan Harapan (PH), Perikatan Nasional (PN) and Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA).
"Although not completely comprehensive as Bersih demands, the promise to empower, restore confidence and provide transparency towards public institutions is favourable progress.
"In particular, the separation of the function of the public prosecutor from the Attorney General has been the main demand of Bersih and other civil society organisations (CSOs) for a long time to eliminate doubts about selective prosecution and immunity from prosecution," he said in a statement on Saturday.
He explained that Bersih was also happy with the action of PH and BN specifically promising to separate the roles of the Attorney General and the public prosecutor while GTA's promises were rather vague and PN did not give their commitment to the issue.
"Another 'game changer' is the promise to empower Parliament to scrutinise the appointment of key government positions such as the Attorney General, the Chief of Police, the Chief Justice, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chairman and the Bank Negara governor.
"This is a good move by BN, PH and GTA to strengthen the role of parliament and reduce power in the hands of the executive, especially the Prime Minister. Once again, PN is silent on this reform," he said.
Bersih added that all the coalitions promised to introduce a political funding law with three of them namely BN, PH and GTA specialising in enacting the Political Funding Act while PN only promised to ban foreign donations to political parties.
Meanwhile, Bersih said, its party is confident that the manifesto is the main policy document to show the vision of the party or the coalition to govern the country.
"Voters need to make informed decisions about each manifesto by the political coalitions.
"Bersih is also convinced that the manifesto is an important room for people to participate and contribute their ideas to political and policy discourse.
"With the inclusion of several pro-democracy reforms by different coalitions, Bersih believes this is a confirmation of CSO's efforts to consult with legislators and key leaders in various coalitions to lobby for multi-party democratic reforms in Malaysia," he said.
Meanwhile, Bersih also praised the manifesto makers who prioritised the inclusion of institutional reform in their manifesto.
"This is a step in the right direction against 'programmed party competition' where coalitions compete based on policies and programs rather than the dangerous racial and religious rhetoric.
"Institutional reforms are needed to achieve sustainable long-term reforms and provide effective checks and balances on the country's democracy," he said.
The committee explained that Bersih will continue to play its role to ensure the coalition's accountability for their reform promises.
