Inter-Research And Studies (IRAS)

The people had spoken up in the recently concluded Merdeka Day cum Bersih 4 rally. The people had shown the government that they are overall dissatisfied and unhappy with the nation’s state of affairs today. The people had spoken of their unhappiness over the change of their livelihood, their shrink income, the increasing inflation, the GST which caused the nightmare, the declining Ringgit, corruption, power abuse, mismanagement and the main factor, a leader of the current government who had sold out our nation for RM2.6 billion. The participants of the Bersih 4 rally, saw a total of about 280,000 to 310,000 people from all walks of life, regardless of race, religion, skin colour or status and regardless of any political or ideological beliefs, came together as one, all came as Malaysians to voice their discontent over the inefficient government of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition. Leaders and ministers in the BN government can no more hide their heads under the sand anymor...

Baru-baru ini Presiden PAS Haji Hadi Awang telah menyuarakan pendapatnya mengenai pilihanraya kerajaan tempatan dan mengapa PAS enggan menyokong saranan PKR, DAP, PSM, PRM, Bersih 2.0 dan masyarakat pada keseluruhannya agar PAS turut menyokong usul tersebut. Alasan pemimpin PAS itu adalah, pilihanraya kerajaan tempatan akan menyebabkan Peristiwa 13 Mei itu tercetus semula. Sebabnya adalah, pilihanraya kerajaan tempatan ini akan menyebabkan masyarakat Melayu dipencilkan sama sekali kerana diperingkat perbandaran dan bandaraya hanya terdiri daripada masyarakat bukan Melayu. Apakah pemimpin PAS itu telah lupa bahawa politik jijiklah yang menyebabkan masyarakat berbilang kaum di negara kita ini berpecahbelah. Kalaulah sesuatu pilihanraya adalah penyebab berpecahnya perpaduan kaum ataupun sesuatu kaum dianaktirikan, maka boleh dikatakan, pilihanraya parlimen dan dewan undangan negeri turut mempunyai elemen-elemen sedemikian, kerana pembahagian kerusi-kerusi parlimen dan dewan undanga...

Certainly, the 13th general election, held on May 5th, was Malaysia's most closely contested since the country’s independence from Britain in 1957. Yet it still produced the same result as at every election since 1957—victory for the Barisan Nasional (BN), a political coalition dominated by prime minister Najib Razak’s United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). This despite the fact that the BN only won a historically low 47% of the popular vote, against the main opposition party’s 51%. Such disparities between the tangible evidence of popular sentiment and the apparently inevitable final result have forced many to question the integrity of Malaysia’s electoral system—not just now but after previous elections as well. Indeed, a whole new organisation called Bersih (meaning “clean” in Malaysian) was set up in 2006 to campaign for “clean and fair elections”. It has held three large rallies over the years in the capital Kuala Lumpur to press the government, and in particular the g...

By Shannon Teoh Bersih said today the ban on a video promoting the right to vote flies in the face of Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s push for greater democracy. The electoral reforms movement called for the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to allow the Undilah public service announcement to be aired by local broadcasters as it posed no threat to the public. “It’s sad that a video like that can be seen as threatening. If that is considered sensitive, what kind of democracy and political liberalisation is the prime minister talking about? “It looks like he is doing one thing while his government is doing something else,” steering committee member Subramaniam Pillay told a press conference this morning. The Malaysian Insider reported this morning that the MCMC directed local broadcasters not to use the video because it contains opposition figures and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah’s speech about Malaysia having problems. “What is wrong with asking people to vote? Even the 1 Ma...