KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 2 — In a bid to bolster its ranks ahead of the next polls, Bersih 2.0 is hoping to link up existing separate youth groups and draw on their vision to map out the electoral reform coalition’s future, and that of Malaysia’s.

Maria Chin Abdullah, the polls reform watchdog’s newly-minted chairman, noted that youth groups have played an active role in advocating clean and fair elections since 2011.

The proposal now was to set up a Bersih Youth platform “so youths are able get together to chart their own destination” and to amplify their collective voice to the furthest reaches of the country.

“It’s just linking up with these groups so that young people’s voices are actually represented in Bersih,” she explained.

Maria said “the power of the youth and Malaysians in general has to be garnered, nurtured and given unfettered information so that come the next general elections, Malaysians are wiser and more vigilant about the kind of leaders that we vote into Parliament, state and at all levels”.

Although the 13th general election only concluded about six months ago, Maria is already training her sights on the next national polls, which is not due for another five years.

Voter education will also be ramped up with Bersih 2.0 to focus on “unreachables” such as rural folks and those that lack information, Maria said in outlining the young movement’s plans.

“In additional [sic], BERSIH 2.0 needs to strengthen its regional chapters to ensure that we reach out to those who have no access to information, no access to the Internet, marginalised, and disenfranchised,” she said, predicting that the next election’s voter turnout could exceed 80 per cent, while declaring the aim for them to be “informed voters”.

“Thirdly, in order for BERSIH 2.0’s outreach to grow in volume and substantively, we need to develop creative ways to reach out to the ‘unreachables’ and the marginalised, we need simple-to-understand resources so that information gets to voters in language and words that they will understand,” she said.

Maria said overseas Malaysians voters will also “be more systematically informed so that they take ownership of the advocacy at international platforms”.

“We will need Global BERSIH to be with us to do another round of battle for reform,” with the global chapter having previously coordinated with Bersih 2.0 in the years before Election 2013.

Another key area that Bersih 2.0 will be focusing on is spreading awareness among voters on the need for a clean electoral roll before the Election Commission (EC)’s plans to redraw the boundaries of voting constituencies next year, Maria said.

“All Malaysians must mobilise to halt the delineation exercise by sending letters of protest to the Election Commission and the government. They must also pressure for the immediate cleaning of the electoral roll to ensure phantom voters, illegal voters, dead voters, mixed gender voters and many of such flaws are corrected,” she said.

Maria said Bersih 2.0 has already been going around the country to tell the public to start gathering the minimum 100 voters needed to mount an objection to the EC on the proposed redelineation of their voting area, as only one month is typically given as the protest period.

Aware of the bar that the two previous co-chairs Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan and Datuk A. Samad Said had set, Maria declined to compare herself to the prominent lawyer and national laureate.

“I personally salute the leadership of Ambiga and Pak Samad, who are both exceptional individuals. They have challenged Malaysians to confront deeply-entrenched fears and created a people’s movement that is unstoppable,” she said.

She also said Bersih 2.0 was “not about personalities”, a remark similarly made by Ambiga previously, saying that it was instead a platform for Malaysians to fight for clean and fair elections together.

“So the new committee are definitely building on the momentum created by the previous committee. We have achieved much even though the GE13 brought much disappointment and anger in most of us,” said Maria, who had also served as a member of Bersih 2.0’s steering committee before taking up her new role.