Harakahdaily: Heed calls for electoral reforms, warns Najib's sister-in-law

Heed calls for electoral reforms, warns Najib's sister-in-law
Harakahdaily,  07 May 2012

May 7: A call for prime minister Najib Razak's administration to take
heed of the huge turnout at the Bersih 3.0 rally on April 28 has come
from none other than the wife of his brother.

Writing in news portal The Malaysian Insider, Azlina Aziz, wife of
Najib's brother Nazir Razak who heads the CIMB banking group, said the
government must address the crisis of public confidence in the
electoral process by appointing a number of respectable Malaysians to
oversee the coming general elections.

"Surely a quick and effective step to improve public confidence would
be the appointment of a few upstanding Malaysians, who command the
respect of all parties, to be entrusted with overseeing the general
election," she suggested.

Stressing on the importance of public confidence in the electoral
process which can "avoid an aftermath of anger, dissent and disorder
that the unfolding of Bersih 3.0 seems to suggest", Azlina warned that
the results of the next general election could be open to challenge.

"It is time for engagement, for listening, for cutting the invisible
barbed wires that separate 'them' and 'us' and extending a hand over
the divide to those who may disagree with your views but have as much
of a stake and future in the country as you do," said Azlina, who said
she and her husband toured Dataran Merdeka on the eve of the protests
and "went home that evening with a deep sense of foreboding and
unease".

"We were shocked, to say the least, by the expanse of barbed wire
encircling the square. The vision of protestors on one side and the
police on the other, separated by barricades and sharp steel, seems to
symbolise division, confrontation, aggression," she wrote.

Some 200,000 people gathered for the Bersih 3.0 rally in several parts
of the capital on April 28, calling for urgent electoral reforms be
carried out before the next general election. More than 500 protesters
were arrested and scores injured, including policemen and journalists.