Fighting Political Corruption through Voter/Community Empowerement

1. Fighting Political Corruption through
Voter/Community Empowerment
Forum: Issues and Challenges of Tackling Corruption in Malaysia
By IDEAS
6th
August 2016

2. The R.O.S.E. Journey
From GE-13 to Present
Citizen-initiated |
Citizen-driven

3. VOTER
REGISTRATION
PRU-13
2013 ?

4. R.O.S.E. Voter Registration Volunteers

6. PRU-13
2013 ?
CITIZENS’ & VOTERS’ RIGHTS
RAISING AWARENESS
of

7. Kursus Kesedaran Sivik
Projek Rumah Baru

8. ELECTORAL REFORM
Partners : Tindak Malaysia and Bersih(DART)
Redelineation Exercise

9. ROSE mobilized 116 objectors to file in a
Letter of Objection for P196 Stampin

10. PA|CA|BA @ KAMPUNG

12. ROSE’s Vision
To see ordinary Sarawakians participate and
engage in the democratic process necessary in
nation-building.
ROSE’s Mission
● Create awareness & empower voters and
citizens about their democratic rights
● Cleaner and Fairer Elections

13. How level is the Playing Field in
Sarawak?
-
● Political Patronage
● Vote-buying
dominates

14. BRIBERY-Section 10 of the Election Offences Act 1954
- is undemocratic, disrupts fair competition and principle of voting with
your conscience and of course illegal and should be eliminated in any
elections

15. In summary, vote–buying
is the giving, offering or
promising of money,
favours or jobs/contracts
in exchange for getting a
person’s vote for a
candidate.

16. Effects of Vote-Buying
“It is undemocratic whether voters sell their votes out of a fear of
losing minor payoffs, or out of a feeling of obligation to reciprocate, or
out of a desire to be sure of securing a desired benefit now;…it is
undemocratic in that it keeps vote sellers from having their interests
accurately interpreted and made known, and in that it leaves them less
autonomous than are the recipients of politically motivated public
programs. In addition to being undemocratic, it has bad
consequences, skewing public policy, creating inefficiencies, and
reducing the supply of public goods. In light of these conclusions, the
imperative is to search for ways to reduce vote buying in today’s
developing democracies.”
[Susan C. Stokes, “Is vote buying undemocratic?”, Elections for Sale:
The Causes and Consequences of Vote Buying, ed. Frederic C.
Schaffer (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2007), pp. 99–100]
● Misuse/wastage of public resources
● Unequal access to win public office; only the wealthy candidate or groups can muster
● The interests of vote-sellers are not accurately interpreted and made known*
● Voters selling their interest to the highest bidder
● Voters become less autonomous

17. Apart from cash handouts to voters and groups, in a
parliamentary reply, Minister in the PM’s department
Azalina Othman said that programs and projects worth
RM792 million are being implemented in the run up to
the Sarawak State elections
Bersih’s Pemantau team observed and
documented announcements of Federal funding of
a total sum of RM560 million and care-taker State
government announcements of funding/launching
of projects worth of RM700million (inclusive of
Baleh Dam Road of RM561 million)
According to Bridget Welsh, academic and writer, she estimates that
every voter in Sarawak in terms of project allocation is about RM5000 per voter!
http://www.newmandala.org/its-raining-money-in-sarawak/

19. Treating - Section 8 of the Election Offences
Act 1954

20. Treating by Political Parties across both Divides

21. Other corrupt practices
• Undue Influence; eg.
if you do not vote so
and so we would /
would not...
• Use of government
machinery and
resources;
• Illegal campaigning,
including
unauthorised
expenditures
● banning of politicians/
imposing of travel
limits on political party
workers / volunteers
into Sarawak just
before the last state
elections

22. What can WE do about
vote-buying?
Voter education
*****QUIZ*****

23. ● VOTER EDUCATION WORKSHOPS; including
raising awareness of effects of selling their vote.
● Raise locals as ELECTION-OBSERVERS and
campaigners within locality to complain and report
vote-buying and other election irregularities and
offences; discourage and deter?
● Citizen-driven CAMPAIGN to lobby EC to curb and
take action against vote-buying & other corrupt
practices
● Dialogue with EC
● Advocate and Reform Election Commission? to
make really Independent & impartial; Strengthen
● Others?

25. if not US WHO?
WHEN?
NOWif not

26. Citizen-initiated |
Citizen-driven
WEBSITE : http://www.sarawakrose.org
EMAIL : my@sarawakrose.org
FB : www.facebook.com/sarawakrose