KUCHING, Oct 12 — Bersih Sarawak has taken Tasik Biru assemblyman Datuk Henry Harry Jinep to task for telling village development and security committee (JKKK) secretaries to support Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) in the coming election or quit from their post.
Its chairperson Ann Teo that such remarks impinged on the democratic right and freedom of every person to vote for the candidate or party of their choice.
“Jinep’s call impinges on the democratic right and freedom of every person to vote for the candidate or party of their choice — regardless whether the voter is a civil servant or receives an allowance from the government of the day for the performance of their duties,” she said in a press statement today.
If such a call were to be made during an election, Teo said that it could be construed as a violation of Section 9 of the Election Offences Act.
The section stipulates that anyone who makes use of any force to induce or compel another to vote for a certain party; or who directly or indirectly interferes with the free exercise of the electoral right of a person may be guilty of undue influence — which is a punishable offence.
The call for JKKK secretaries to vote GPS in the election or quit from their post thus smacks of the politics of patronage and reinforced a subservient mentality expected of the members of the JKKK to the ruling party or parties, she said
She added that such values and attitudes had no place in a progressive Sarawak — especially if it claims to be a mature government ready to take on the responsibilities of a democratic state.
“Has the YB forgotten that the state government uses public taxes and oil funds from state coffers to pay the JKKK? Public resources do not belong to the various political parties that now form the GPS government in Sarawak.
“While state civil servants and likewise JKKK members may be paid by the government of the day, nonetheless they are there to serve the public/community interests and the people’s welfare — they are not employed to vote for the ruling parties,” she added.
Meanwhile, she called on the urgent need to reform the current system of rural or local governance at the village level, adding that the Community Chiefs and Headmens Ordinance 2004 was “archaic” and had to be abolished.
“Local and village council elections have to be revived and the rights of villagers and likewise rate-payers to choose their councillors at local government level through democratic elections has to be returned to the people.
“The rationale is simple; so that village committee if chosen from and by the people can only be beholden to the needs of the people and no other institution or elected representative of the constituency,” she said. — Borneo Post
