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Ambiga's request for govt to fund Bersih laughable, says MIC Youth chief

Thinalan said due to Bersih’s affiliation with the Pakatan Harapan government, the electoral reform group can no longer claim to be non-partisan. — Picture by Mohd Yusof Mat Isa
Thinalan said due to Bersih’s affiliation with the Pakatan Harapan government, the electoral reform group can no longer claim to be non-partisan. — Picture by Mohd Yusof Mat Isa

KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 — MIC Youth chief R. Thinalan today said that the government should not fund electoral watchdog Bersih 2.0 since it was no longer politically neutral.

Thinalan was commenting on a statement by prominent lawyer Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan, who suggested that the government should provide funding for Bersih for its electoral monitoring activities.

Thinalan said due to Bersih’s affiliation with the Pakatan Harapan government, the electoral reform group can no longer claim to be non-partisan.

“The moment Maria Chin Abdullah decided to contest and became the Petaling Jaya MP, the connection between Pakatan Harapan and Bersih is undeniable, despite her formal resignation which was done only for the sole purpose of contesting in the 14th general election,” Thinalan said in a statement.

He also pointed out that two former Bersih members served in the government, including Shahrul Aman Mohd Saari, who was Education Minister Maszlee Malik’s press secretary for a short period, and Mandeep Singh, who currently serves as special officer to Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo.

Thinalan said Ambiga’s request was amusing: “No strings attached is an absolute illusory in Ambiga’s clarion call.

“Bersih cannot function independently when the federal government can simply cut off its funding, if and when they do not find Bersih’s work in favour of their own political agenda.

“Thus, taxpayers’ money would be used to push Pakatan’s own political agenda if this request is done,” he pointed out.

“It is hilariously ironic, that despite such a public request by Ambiga, Free Malaysia Today reported incumbent chairman Thomas Fann saying that he would not seek funds from the government for the NGO,” he said.

Thinalan agreed that Bersih needs to be seen as ‘clean’ in order to function effectively, with sensitive and important work such as a potential major redelineation exercise upcoming in the near future, in light of the recent constitutional amendments to lower the voting age to 18.

On Sunday, Ambiga said funding is necessary for Bersih due to the nature of the work it carries out.

She added that the presence of its personnel on the ground, during election campaigning, is crucial as they ensure everyone behaves responsibly in every election.

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