( this is the email letter I drafted and sent to the German Green Party, from top leaders to local branch youth leaders about 1 week before 28th April. But unfortunately no one bothers to reply me, oh well. I wrote most of the text, with also a small help from a template circulated in Bersih Steering committee google email discussion group. I think this is well written, so I put it up here for documentation purpose)
To comrades from Bündnis 90/Die Grünen,
Greetings!
My name is Han, I come from Malaysia and currently I am doing a PhD study in Hannover. I represent the group "Bersih 3.0 Berlin" to seek your support and endorsement for our cause. We are going to hold a protest rally at Siegesäule, Tiergarten on next Satuday (28th April) from 14.00 till 17.00, and we would like to invite your honourable party to join us.
Sorry that I am not able to write well in German, but let me explain further to you in English, about our cause. "Bersih" is a coalition of 84 Non-Governmental Organizations in Malaysia, which is demanding for Clean, Free and Fair Election. “Bersih” means Clean (‘sauber’ in Malay).
My name is Han, I come from Malaysia and currently I am doing a PhD study in Hannover. I represent the group "Bersih 3.0 Berlin" to seek your support and endorsement for our cause. We are going to hold a protest rally at Siegesäule, Tiergarten on next Satuday (28th April) from 14.00 till 17.00, and we would like to invite your honourable party to join us.
Sorry that I am not able to write well in German, but let me explain further to you in English, about our cause. "Bersih" is a coalition of 84 Non-Governmental Organizations in Malaysia, which is demanding for Clean, Free and Fair Election. “Bersih” means Clean (‘sauber’ in Malay).
[reference: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/
We Malaysians for the past 55 years, have been living under
the same government ruling coalition, named Barisan
Nasional (or BN), uninterruptedly since the independence day on 31st
August 1957. Your party would definitely also fancy about this idea (if you
could replicate this achievement in Germany). However the sad truth is, this is
done because the past general elections were conducted in a very corrupted and
biased manner just to guarantee victory for the ruling parties. Our Election
Commission (EC), which is required constitutionally to act independently, and
without fear or favour to ensure free and fair elections, but instead it has
shown itself as a stooge or an instrument of state that works in great favour
to the ruling parties so to make sure they could stay in power forever. This is
a sham and is considered cheating. This
works against the principle of democracy (1 person 1 vote, equal value) which
your party must strongly uphold.
Hence, Bersih has listed out 8 demand points to the
government and EC:
1. Clean the electoral roll2. Reform postal ballot
3. Use of indelible ink
4. Minimum 21 days campaign period
5. Free and fair access to media
6. Strengthen public institutions
7. Stop corruption
8. Stop dirty politics
(further reading about the details of 8 demands: http://bersih.org/?page_id=
The recent development in the Parliament confirms our
government’s intention to continue to play dirty in the upcoming general
election, which is believed to be held rather soon. (http://bersih.org/?p=4751 )
Therefore, on 28th April this coming Saturday at
2pm, Bersih is calling for massive demonstration (a sit-in protest rally) at a
size of 500,000 protesters, right in the heart of the capital city Kuala Lumpur
at Independence Square (Dataran
Merdeka) for comprehensive reform of the electoral process. Bersih reiterates
the 8 points of demand and asks the all EC members to resign (http://news.malaysia.msn.com/
On the same day same time, Stop Lynas Save Malaysia (Green) campaign will join force with
Bersih (Yellow) movement, advocating for a serious health and environmental
issue to stop an Australian mining firm named Lynas Corporation Ltd from
operating a rare earth refinery at Gebeng, Malaysia. Stop Lynas Save
Malaysia first began as a movement that was initiated in early March 2011 to
provide a platform for the Kuantan residents to voice their objection over the Malaysia
Pahang state government's approval of a RM700 million rare earth processing
plant (will be the world's largest) in Gebeng, Kuantan, by Lynas. The campaign raises
a lot of concerns and awareness from ordinary Malaysians about the impending toxic
radioactive hazard arisen from the purposely poor and careless design waste
management by Lynas. Lynas will use 720 tons of concentrated Hydrochloride Acid
(sulphuric acid) per day and leave behind 28,000 tonnes of solid waste per
year, enough to fill 126 olympic size swimming pools. A by-product of this
waste is radioactive Thorium (Th) which is dangerous to human health. It is
widely believed that Lynas wanted to bypass the strict environmental
regulations and restrictions imposed on them in homeland Australia. Therefore,
they are willing to transport the rare earth materials as far as 1000km by land
and 4000km by sea, from the mine in Mt Weld, West Australia to Gebeng,
Malaysia, just hoping to dump the huge amount of toxic and radioactive waste in
Malaysia soil, which might be prohibited to do so in Australia. Oddly enough,
Malaysian government welcomes Lynas investment by designating the company with
“pioneer” status, and even offering them 12 years tax exemption. This leads to
speculations that certain personals in the government at the top level might
have been benefited from the under table trade, despite a strong objection and
numerous protests from the people nationwide.
[further reading: http://stoplynas.org/campaign/ , http://savemalaysia-stoplynas.
Lynas is expected to throw into the operation soon in 2
months, if they are not stopped in time before the first bag of rare earth
arrives. Stop Lynas Save Malaysia movement recognizes the importance of Clean,
Free and Fair election, as the first step in establishing and advancing the
environmental rights, so they decided to join force with Bersih group on 28th
April for the massive demonstration. ( http://www.
Hereby I wish your honourable Green Party could help us to voice
out about these issues I have just mentioned in order to letting more German
people know, and please advocate the cause and stay in solidarity with us, the
Green movement and the Bersih movement back in Malaysia. I also wish to
invite you to join us at Siegesäule on 28th April. Looking forward
to hearing from you regarding this matter.
Yours faithfully,
Chee Han Lim
(Organiser of “Bersih 3.0 Berlin”)
Handy: 017632014363
Bersih 3.0 Berlin Facebook event
page: http://www.facebook.com/
* Together we can make the earth a better place to live *
Footnotes:
1) (Bersih
3.0) Wong Chin Huat: How To Clone A Voter In Malaysia
(the video illustrates the
problematic electoral rolls used for Election, and how they can be used to add
more votes for the ruling parties)
2) About Bersih movement
BACKGROUND
In 2008 polls, the government's
two-thirds majority was broken for the first time in 51 years by an Opposition
coalition, Pakatan Rakyat (PR). That parliamentary majority had allowed BN to
rewrite the Constitution at will. The next election, expected before June but
legally required by April 2013, is a do-or-die scenario for BN, whose highest
offices face allegations of corruption and criminality so devastating as to
threaten their hold on power.
Independent inquiries and
analysis of electoral rolls have uncovered these facts:
·
Over 400,000 dubious voters are on
the electoral roll, enough to swing 35 federal seats either way and decide if
BN reclaims its two-thirds super-majority in parliament, or the Opposition PR
becomes the government
·
31,294 voters have been transferred
out of their 2008 constituencies without their consent
·
42,000 voters whose status as
citizens cannot be verified by the National Registration Department are still
on the roll
·
The electoral rolls carry 65,543
voters who are 85 years of age and older, and 1000 voters aged more than 100
years
·
15,855 voters on the roll have
identification card numbers showing they are of a different gender from that
listed by the EC
·
4,500 voters who are spouses of
police officers are registered as postal voters in breach of the law
·
Up to 1,000,000 (one million) Malaysians living
overseas cannot vote in general elections from their residential countries because
of laws that contravene the Malaysian Constitution. These Malaysians who are
denied their constitutional right to lodge their vote from overseas could make
up 10 per cent of the electorate. The same laws that prevent these
Malaysians from taking part in elections otherwise afford that basic democratic
privilege for up to 240,000 other Malaysian citizens, who may be regarded as
financially obliged to their government, such as soldiers, government scholars
and civil service members, as well as their spouses. Up to 90 per cent of
ballots cast through Malaysia's postal voting system is believed to
support the incumbent government.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
In the 12th general election of
2008, Opposition coalition PR won the prized state of Selangor and wrested
control of an economic and symbolic powerhouse in peninsular Malaysia;
since 2008, the Selangor electoral rolls have ballooned by 22 per cent (over
340,000 voters) to more than 1.9 million, compared to a national average of
16.3 per cent.
Malaysia has refused access to
international election-watch groups ever since the 1990 general election, when
polling was observed by the Commonwealth Observer Mission, but the prime
minister of that time, Mahathir Mohamed, suppressed their report.
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