Opposition parties should not fall into Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman’s cleverly-laid trap to boycott the next general elections and allow BN to win unopposed in all constituencies in the next general elections
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Press Statement (2)
by Lim Guan Eng
__________________
(Petaling Jaya,
Wednesday):
Opposition parties should not
fall in Elections Commission
Chair Tan Sri Abdul Rashid
Abdul Rahman’s cleverly-laid
trap to boycott the next
general elections and allow
BN to win unopposed in all
parliamentary and state
constituencies in the next
general elections. Rashid had
disgraced his position as EC
Chair and further sullied
EC’s status as a body that is
independent, fair and neutral
conducting clean elections by
challenging opposition
parties to boycott polls.
BN is expected to lose some
seats in the coming general
elections after being struck
by corruption, abuse of
power, mismanagement, poor
governance as well as
financial and personal
scandals involving BN top
leaders. Rather than face
voters who are angry at such
betrayal of trust by BN
leaders, Rashid appears to
want to assist BN to secure
victories by default without
having to go to the trouble
of campaigning in the
elections.
Clearly such challenge by
Rashid to boycott elections
only prove claims by
opposition parties that
Rashid is behaving no
differently as an agent of BN
intent on conducting the
dirtiest, dishonest and most
unfair elections in Malaysian
history. For this reason,
opposition parties should not
fall into the EC and Rashid’s
trap by boycotting polls to
allow BN to secure easy
unopposed victories.
For its part, DAP shall not
boycott the coming elections
but participate fully to
allow the people an
opportunity to voice their
aspirations. DAP shall
continue to fight to demand
free access to media, clean
electoral rolls, transparent
electoral process as well as
oppose money politics, dirty
and underhanded tactics of BN
done with the connivance
tacit assistance or inaction
by EC. Should the results of
the elections not reflect the
will of the people due to the
success of such dirty and
underhanded tactics, then DAP
will not recognize the
election results but launch
mass public protests. However
let the elections proceed and
the people decide freely and
fairly.
Elections are an integral
part of democracy that allows
people to choose their
elected representatives and
leaders to head the country’s
administration. DAP does not
understand how the will of
the people can be reflected
by a boycott. Even if the
electoral process is flawed,
fraudulent and manipulated to
record victories for the
ruling party against the
wishes of the people, let the
whole world see proof of how
dirty and dishonest BN is in
maintaining its grip on
power.
The EC of all countries in
the world would be
encouraging full
participation by voters and
candidates in the electoral
process. However in the best
“Malaysia Boleh” tradition
Rashid is doing the exact
opposite by asking for a
boycott. This is no different
from the police asking people
to commit crimes. Rashid
might as well resign or the
EC be dissolved if it is more
intent in getting political
parties to boycott instead of
participating in the
elections. In that event
there is no point having
elections and elections might
have well been abolished.
(02/01/2008)
* Lim Guan
Eng,
Secretary-General of DAP |