GEORGE TOWN, Aug 12 ― Bersih 2.0’s ongoing voter education drive has been receiving less than enthusiastic response from the public as Malaysians have become increasingly skeptical of the fight for free and fair polls, a leader with the electoral reforms watchdog said.

Datuk Dr Toh Kin Woon, the coalition’s north peninsular vice-chair, said the worry now is that voters have become doubtful that their participation in any of Bersih 2.0’s progammes would make a difference.

“There seems to be some kind of despondency in people. There is this element of doubt in the extent of how successful they will be if they join in the protest to get the Election Commission to conduct the elections cleanly,” he said.

He admitted that this has become a major obstacle in Bersih 2.0’s education drive as voters have begun shying away from the group’s activities.

Another possibility, Toh said, is that voters may have grown impatient.

“I think they are not sure if it’s gonna be effective. It is almost like it’s pointless for them, they have this air of despondency, this doubt that by participating, we will not get anywhere,” he told Malay Mail Online in an interview at his office here recently.

The former three-term state assemblyman admitted that Bersih 2.0’s work over the past few years may not bring about immediate changes, whether in the next few weeks or even months.

But the long-term benefits are what the polls watchdog is gunning for, he said.

“Still, I feel that there’s work to be done and more likely it won’t work but we still can’t shirk from responsibility and I believe we need to start somewhere to contribute towards the long term,” he said.

He said, however, that recent changes in voter behaviour towards elections such as the higher turnout during last year’s federal polls was a good sign.

Bersih 2.0 has also been “fairly successful” in signing up volunteers as polling agents.

“This can be seen in almost all constituencies in the peninsular, be it state or parliamentary seats, from both Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Rakyat (PR), which is vastly different from the past when there was a total absence in polling agents from PR,” the former Gerakan leader said.

Thanks to the higher number of polling agents, scrutiny of the polling process has been enhanced, which could help reduce foul play and cheating, he said.

Toh also noted that since the last polls, there has also been a greater awareness on the viability of the indelible ink used by the EC.

These are among some of the successes of Bersih 2.0’s voter education effort, he said.

But the activist said he believes voters want more immediate and distinctive results to the fight for clean polls, especially after experiencing Election 2013, which was fraught with complaints of irregularities.

“GE13 showed that there was imbalance in terms of the distribution of voters between constituencies and it proved that if you don't do away with mal-apportionment, if every single vote is not valued the same or at least close to being the same, you may end up with an electoral outcome which does not reflect the popular vote,” he said.

During the general elections last year, PR snapped up 52 per cent of the total votes cast at the federal level but only won in 89 parliamentary constituencies while BN took 133 seats, despite winning just over 47 per cent of the vote.

“This shows the whole electoral system is tilted towards BN and very heavily weighted against PR and this has to be corrected.

“This issue is probably amongst the most important and crucial issues amongst voters,” the former Penang state executive councillor for education said.

Toh said despite the growing skepticism from the public, Bersih 2.0 cannot throw in the towel.

He pointed out that Malaysians are more aware of their voting rights today thanks to years of hard work put in by Bersih 2.0 and its supporters.

“By this virtue of fact, if we engage the public, do some publicity, I think we will be able to contribute towards bringing about less mal-apportionment.

“Maybe not today, not in the new few months, but in the future. I believe our struggles today will be sustained in the future,” he added.