Bersih Gives Thumbs Up To Election Manifestos

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Bersih welcomed the pledge by all four coalitions to introduce political financing regulations.PETALING JAYA: Electoral reform group Bersih has praised the election manifestos of Barisan Nasional (BN), Pakatan Harapan (PH), Perikatan Nasional (PN) and Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA) for their inclusion of democratic reforms.
Although the manifesto promises were not comprehensive, Bersih said the pledges to strengthen and restore trust in public institutions as well as provide greater transparency were welcome.
“In particular, the separation of the public prosecution function from the attorney-general (AG) has long been a key demand by Bersih and other civil society organisations to remove doubts of selective prosecution and immunity from prosecution.
“We are pleased to see that both PH and BN have explicitly promised to separate the roles of the AG and public prosecutor,” it said in a statement.
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Bersih said the promise to empower Parliament to vet major public office appointments such as the AG, inspector-general of police, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief commissioner and Bank Negara Malaysia governor, was a “game-changer”.
The electoral watchdog also welcomed the pledge by all four coalitions to introduce political financing regulations.
It singled out the BN manifesto as the only one that stated a willingness to explore the evolution of power from the federal government to state governments, which it believed would increase efficiency and strengthen federalism.
Bersih also commended PH for its pledge to adopt a wide range of reforms, such as establishing a fixed parliamentary term, a dedicated parliamentary budget office and term limits for the prime minister and chief ministers.
“Bersih wishes to commend those who crafted these manifestos for giving priority to the inclusion of institutional reforms,” it said.
“Institutional reforms are needed to achieve sustainable long-term systemic reform and to provide effective checks and balances in our democracy.” - FMT

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