Existence of half past six politicians in Pakatan Rakyat

I find this piece of news laughable due to the sheer desperation from its originators.

Biometric system makes EC all-powerful, says Pakatan
By Clara Chooi
July 27, 2011

An official checks for traces of indelible ink on a voter’s hand during parliamentary elections in Tbilisi May 21, 2008. — Reuters file pic

KUALA LUMPUR, July 27 — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders alleged today that a biometric voter verification system would only eliminate checks and balances in the present election process and grant the Election Commission (EC) absolute power over ballots cast on polling day.

In a joint statement here, the leaders said this was because the EC would be the only authority with exclusive access to the biometric system, allowing it to manipulate the voting process.

Polling and counting agents from political parties, they claimed, would no longer be required to monitor the polling process.

“They will phase out the involvement of party representatives to monitor the voting process. So there will no longer be any checks and balances.

“Voters will come in, present their MyKads, get their thumbprints scanned and that’s it. So there will be no need for checking agents because we will not have access to the system which verifies these voters anyway,” PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli told The Malaysian Insider when contacted. – Did the EC announce how biometric validation will be conducted yet? Not yet. Thus, Rafizi is putting the cart before the horse.

He added, however, that if too many parties were allowed to access the biometric system, it would similarly be open to further abuses.

“But if only the EC has access, then who is to say that there is no manipulation?” he pointed out. – You are certain that too many parties (that include you) will abuse the system and you are also certain that if only EC has the access, they will manipulate it. I suggest we call down The Autobots to conduct, operate and monitor our general elections.

In the statement, signed by Rafizi, DAP’s Liew Chin Tong and PAS’s Dr Mohd Hatta Ramli, the leaders reiterated their stand that the use of indelible ink would still be the cheapest way to clean up the election process. – Cheapest doesn’t mean foolproof. It means that it is open more to abuse. More on this later.

They said that the opportunity for political parties to send their agents to monitor the voting process is the key criterion of a clean and fair election. – Again, sheer desperation just to make the news in Malaysian Insider. But wait a minute, all these while party agents CAN monitor the voting process therefore, Rafizi is indeed, confused. A confused politician is bad for the country.

“Therefore, any measures which aim to eliminate the involvement of political parties are contrary to the will of the people expressed through Bersih 2.0. The EC must return to Bersih’s eight demands. – what measures? No announcement from EC yet. This is coming from a highly imaginative but half past six mindset.

“The country’s electoral system needs an overall reform, not minor amendments which will not only cost hundreds of millions, but also raise new issues to fuel public anger,” they said. – so, indelible ink is an overall reform?? Are you sure you know what you’re talking about?

The PR leaders argued that the new computerised system would also be subject to technical glitches and security risks. This, they pointed out, is likely why the EC itself had admitted that the system would not be ready in time for the 13th general election. – EC will conduct dry run on this.

“More important, however, is the inability of the biometric system to prevent phantom voters or double-voting because it is using the wrong approach, i.e. those with identification cards are considered valid voters … this would allow many illegal immigrants with identification cards to vote in GE-13,” they said. – there were no such instances or cases of double voting in this country. A FACT that even Ambiga of Bersih could not find any evidence of this. Anyone of you here with a shred of documented proof that says someone had voted twice using different ICs, or different names please submit it to whoever you wish that might highlight your proof. 

The leaders also claimed that the prime minister and the EC’s support for the proposed biometric system proves that the government has admitted to discrepancies in the current election process. – maybe government should not even do anything. They should just sit back and relax and don’t change anything. Obviously, constant improvement is a bad thing for Pakatan buffoons. We improve ourselves when better alternatives and technology is presented to us.

“This proves that the Barisan Nasional (BN) leadership cannot afford to deny the voices of those who joined Bersih 2.0’s rally,” they said. – then you should be grateful that the government is listening for ways to improve instead of maintaining status quo or doing a Mugabe and cut both your hands. Since the government is not cruel (contrary to what your perverted mind would like to think), they strive to make things more efficient. Which can only be a good thing.

On a side note, kudos for The Malaysian Insider for showing picture of people in a former Russian colony checking for indelible ink.

By the way, do you know that in United States of America, they have only about to revamp their elections law? They have just adopted a law for a electoral process whereby photo identification is a requirement for you to vote. Apparently, all this while, it is not a requirement to produce ID when voting!

We in Malaysia is lightyears ahead of them and yet, the people in Bersih wants us to regress few steps and use indelible ink.

One of the biggest complaint of indelible ink is that unscrupulous people (they can be from Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat or other good for nothing people) can roam the rural/urban areas and trick unsuspecting voters to use the indelible ink before the election starts thus the voters cannot vote even when they turned up at the election centres. Can we afford this risk? If your grandfather’s cousin was tricked by someone a day before the election and permanent ink has been swiped on to his finger nails, he can sue the EC millions if he was prevented to vote. This is provided by the law.

The biometric on the other hand does not try to replace the IC as the IC is the all important document that can verify a voter.

For instance, can you pass the automated gateway at the airports without your passports by just scanning your fingerprints? Of course you can’t. Same with voting process.

The fingerprint being scanned by the biometric system is just a verifying tool that enables the system to recognise that the holder of the IC is indeed the same person.

It is a system that double checks your identity. Once your particulars and thumbprints have been recorded in the system, you may not be able to vote anywhere else. If there are two same fingerprints being detected, the system will flag the person and will alert the authority. This is a foolproof way to prevent phantom voters.

This is also the very same system that is preventing criminals from entering our country through official entry points (if they enter by swimming to our beaches then a bit hard to detect).

KLIA, LCCT and JB entry points for example process minimum 100K, 90K and 80K people respectively on daily basis without any major breakdowns using the biometric system. The technology is here and ready.

Importantly, party representatives from either party can still monitor the voting process by getting a live screen of electoral roll being validated by the biometric system. Previously, they have this list of voters in each polling centres which they cross check with ballot paper figures. Now, they should just add this simple technique of real time data streaming. They can then validate the voting process themselves.

Clearly the Pakatan leaders, being half past six themselves, have not studied the system to make a well informed statement. But then again, I believe they just want to trick people who are unaware of their deceit so that they can continue playing this issue over and over again.

After all, being irrelevant is a death-knell to 3rd rate politicians.