CALLING FOR MAFREL PRU13 ELECTION OBSERVERS

MAFREL 19/5/12 PROGRAMME UPDATE

Training Session Saturday 19/5/2012

http://mafrel.blogspot.com/2012/05/voluteers-training-session-sat-1952012.html

Those interested to join this volunteers training session, please contact
Rick Lye
rick@jvnetresources.com

MAFREL PERAK : TAKLIMAT

MAFREL Perak Chapter is also arranging a taklimat/briefing session for new volunteers for PRU13 on Sunday 22nd. April, 2012 beginning from 9.00 am.
Venue Perak IKRAM Office, Ipoh.
For more detail contact IR Megat Shariffudin Ibrahim at 012 5222664 or by email at irmegatsibrahim@gmail.com

MAFREL OBSERVERS BRIEFING - SELANGOR/WP

TAKLIMAT MAFREL

PESERTA: PEMERHATI SUKARELAWAN PRU13
KAWASAN SELANGOR/WP DAN KAWASAN SEKITAR
(Pemerhati yang mengundi di tempat lain, tetapi menetap di Selangor/WP boleh menyertainya)

TARIKH: SABTU 21 APRIL 2012

WAKTU: 9.00AM – 1.00PM

TEMPAT: DEWAN TAMAN KLANG JAYA, JALAN SELAMPIT 26, TAMAN KLANG JAYA, KLANG

TUAN/PUAN DIJEMPUT MENGHADIRINYA

UNTUK TUJUAN URUSAN PERSEDIAAN, SILA HUBUNGI KAMI UNTUK MENGESAHKAN KEHADIRAN
UNTUK MAKLUMAT, SILA HUBUNGI:

Abdul Latif Adlin
MAFREL Selangor

Email: aladlin@yahoo.com

Yahoo Facebook Page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mafrel/272242692815334

Yahoo Group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MAFREL/

Facebook Group:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/159160153939/

View Dewan Taman Klang Jaya in a larger map

By Agence France-Presse, Updated: 1/6/2012

Court denies Malaysians abroad right to vote

A Malaysian high court ruled Friday that six Malaysians working in Britain do not have the right to cast their ballots abroad despite promises of electoral reforms.

Prime Minister Najib Razak has vowed to address appeals for reforms ahead of polls widely expected to be called this year following a mass rally last July against alleged electoral fraud and irregularities.

A key demand is that the estimated one million Malaysians abroad are allowed to vote. Currently only government employees, army personnel and full-time students can vote overseas.

But on Friday, the Kuala Lumpur High Court dismissed an application by six Malaysians living overseas, ruling the Election Commission was following the rules in not allowing them to cast their ballots abroad, said Detta Samen of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia.

The six had wanted the court to compel the commission to register them as absent voters and amend its regulation within two weeks to allow all Malaysians to vote overseas.

Samen, who was in court for the verdict, said Malaysians abroad should have the option to vote.

"Every Malaysian citizen should be given the right to vote," he told AFP. "(Else) the element of discrimination is there."

Last month parliament adopted recommendations by a bipartisan panel for poll reforms, which Najib set up following the mass rally.

The panel's recommendations include allowing overseas voting, using indelible ink and cleaning up the electoral roll to remove deceased voters to reduce the risk of cheating.

Activists and opposition politicians claim elections are unfair and marred by fraud, enabling Najib's Barisan Nasional coalition to stay in power for more than five decades

Election Commission deputy chairman Wan Ahmad Wan Omar said last month that the agency was open to changing the rules but that allowing Malaysians abroad to vote could be costly and difficult since only 25,000 Malaysians abroad have registered.

The July rally saw thousands of Malaysians march through the capital Kuala Lumpur in a rare showing of discontent. Police broke up the protest with tear gas and water cannon and arrested 1,600 people

New group mobilising observers for clean elections

New group mobilising observers for clean elections

By Yvonne Lim   http://goodtimes.my/index.php/Politics-Government/new-group-joins-mafrel-for-clean-and-fair-election.html A group of concerned Malaysians has teamed up with election watchdog Malaysians For Free and Fair Elections (MAFREL) to set up Cekap Elections Observers (CEO) to ensure the coming general election is clean and fair. They are aiming to mobilise as many members of the Malaysian public as possible to volunteer to be trained as independent, non-partisan election observers (EO) to watch over the entire election process. Alexa Ho, a pastor at Community Baptist Church, and four others are the initiators of this project. “As citizens of Malaysia, our right is not just to vote, but to make a difference by being an observer and voicing out when we see irregularities in the system or any suspicious behaviour during the elections. “What is really important is not our biasness or preference of one party over another – it is about being fair. No matter which party wins or loses, it is most important that it is all done fairly and cleanly,” Ho stresses. CEO was officially launched on Aug 2 by putting up their Facebook page which is already gaining popularity. To date, it has more than 122 “likes”. The group intends to utilise all the social networks, including Twitter and Google +, to promote its cause. Various non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in MAFREL’s networks have been approached to advertise the EO training programmes. While the training is completely free of charge, no incentive in any form will be given to the volunteers. “To be completely honest, to volunteer as an EO will cost you – your money and time. But the reward is a clean and fair election. I think it is worth it,” says Ho who leads CEO. The minimum age to be an EO during the general election is 21 years, but Ho says the “youngsters” can also participate and help in pre-election observation. Those below the age of 21 are also invited to attend the EO training. An EO will play several important roles throughout the whole election process – from checking of the electoral roll, observing the nomination process for suspicious behaviour until the actual election day. “They are there to check through the electoral roll for any irregularities and watch the entire process from nomination till polling day,” explains MAFREL deputy chairman Colonel Shahrudin Othman. “On polling day, if they are allowed into the polling stations as observers, they will watch from the inside. If not, they will observe outside the polling station for any suspicious behavior, such as intimidation, harassment or buying of votes.” The EOs will then document their observations and MAFREL will compile these into a report which will be distributed to the relevant parties, such as the Election Commission (EC) and universities to be analysed and acted upon. CEO hopes to gather at least 1,000 volunteers to be trained as EOs by MAFREL before the coming election. At the training sessions, MAFREL will teach volunteers how to look out for irregularities in the electoral roll, detect suspicious behaviour, as well as document their observations. MAFREL will subsequently apply with EC for the election observers to be issued passes to be allowed into the polling stations. “But whether the EC will give it or not, we don’t know,” says Shahrudin. Two tentative dates in September have been set aside for the training, which will be held in Petaling Jaya and Cheras. The time and exact venue for the training will be posted on CEO’s Facebook page. Ho urges all Malaysians to come forward and volunteer themselves to be independent EOs. For more information on CEO and MAFREL, log on to CEO’s Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/cekapelections