"JOM PANTAU!"

Monitoring the 13th Malaysian General Elections

Today we are announcing PUSAT KOMAS’ very important initiative “JOM PANTAU!” to monitor the upcoming 13th Malaysian general election! The findings of the monitoring will be compiled and presented to the public, press, and especially the election commission to take appropriate actions. The guiding principles of JOM PANTAU are based on the BERSIH 2.0 eight key demands for clean, free and fair elections

A clean, free and fair election is one of the pillars of democracy. Citizens and voters must take up the responsibility to ensure that their votes and the integrity of the electoral process is protected

 We are in the process of setting up a free web based system online monitoring system which will be managed by KOMAS and collaborators of this initiative. An example of this online social media tool which used by KOMAS and another, NGO Meo-net was the one used to monitor the last Sarawak state election in April 2011. (http://undisarawak.crowdmap.com)

 The web based monitoring system will be set up and run by KOMAS in partnership with SEACEM  which will also help train volunteers and provide technical support services. The website www.pru13.info will be fully operational by the end of February to record and map out election offences, fraud and malpractices, before, during and after polling day. Reports of violations and fraudulent practices will be categorized according to different titles provided for in the website (based on Bersih 2.0 or demands and key election offences).

KOMAS has been involved in election monitoring &documentation and voter education work since the 1990’s and has organized many human rights workshops, video screenings and the production of human rights education resource materials such as videos, comic books, posters, cartoons and pamphlets. Check it out at http://komas.org/voters-rights.html.

JOM PANTAU is carried out in cooperation with the Malaysian Election Observers Network (MEO-Net), Southeast Asian Centre for e-Media (SEACEM), the National Institute for Democracy Electoral Integrity (NIEI) and BERSIH 2.0 in which KOMAS is also a member of the steering committee.

 KOMAS will also organize training workshops for election monitoring agents and observers; and will provide vital information online for all Malaysian voters to understand the rules and regulations of the electoral process. We have already started to carefully identify volunteers from different civil society organizations and concerned individuals from different parts of Malaysia to be trained and to be involved in this effort.

 The selected volunteers represent different sectors in Malaysia (peninsular and east) including the Orang Asli, urban poor, workers, teachers, women, indigenous peoples and others. They will be assigned especially to observe 20 targeted so-called “hotspots” in Malaysia including Selangor, Perak, Penang, Johor, Sabah & Sarawak. 

Members of the public, independent observers & ordinary citizens can also submit their reports through e-mail, tweeter, sms and facebook. Where online media is not easily accessible, reports can be made via direct telephone calls, faxes and in person to the different monitoring points (to be announced later).

This is a chance for ordinary Malaysian citizens to be part of this dynamic and very important activity! We are calling for reliable and committed volunteers from the general public, civil society organizations & concerned individuals to work with KOMAS to monitor the upcoming Malaysian 13th General Elections!

For further information, contact:

tel/fax: 03-79685415