The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH) congratulates the Unity Government for some of the institutional reforms carried out in its first year and urges for more as promised by the respective coalitions and parties in the government, in particularly Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional. We opined that a post-election coalition
The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH) held its first meeting of the new Steering Committee (SC) last night to discuss the way forward after the election of the new SC for the term 2023-2025 and the unexpected resignation of newly reelected Chairperson Thomas Fann two days ago. Fann explained his
The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH) is proud to announce that we were a runner-up in the Citizens’ Engagement Award category at the 19th Annual International Electoral Awards Ceremony at Lisbon, Portugal. The award was won by Elections Ontario of Canada. This event was organized by the International Centre for
Press release of Election Committee of BERSIH10 November 2023 New Steering Committee of BERSIH 2023-2025 elected The Election Committee established to conduct the election of the new Steering Committee of the Coalition for Clean and Fair Election (BERSIH) for the term of 2023 – 2025, had completed the process of polling from
The “Asia & the Pacific Roundtable Discussion on Boundary Delimitation & Malapportionment: Practice & Solutions”, concluded after two days of discussion on 28th and 29th October with the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on Apportionment and Boundary Delimitation. It was jointly organised by The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), The
The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH) will be having an election to determine the new leadership line up for the term 2023-2025. As the name suggests, BERSIH is a coalition of 58 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and each NGO is eligible to nominate, vote and have a say in the coalition’s
The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH) welcomes the announcement by YB Dato' Seri Azalina Othman Said that the Cabinet has agreed to the enactment of the Political Financing Act. During her speech in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday, Azalina says that the Cabinet had referred seven policy parameters to the Parliamentary
UPDATE: Submission deadline extended until 31 October 2023. The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH) launched an essay and video competition in conjunction with Malaysia Day and the International Day of Democracy. The public are invited to submit an essay or a video about the following: why democracy is important, most
The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH) reminds the authorities that it is the constitutional right of the Rakyat to assemble peacefully as it is part and parcel of a functioning democracy. The police is duty-bound to uphold the Federal Constitution by facilitating such assemblies by ensuring the safety of participants
The Coalition for Clean and Fair Election (BERSIH) welcomes the establishment of two taskforce to expedite the separation of roles and powers between the attorney-general (AG) and public prosecutor (PP) by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said, as well as the proceedings called by
First published on BERSIH's website on 7 September 2023. The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH) welcomes the clarion call by the editorial of Berita Harian, New Straits Times, and Harian Metro to immediately put an end to incessant politicking by urging the component parties of the Unity Government and the
The Coalition for Clean and Fair Election (BERSIH), together with Astro Awani, is pleased to launch the #VoteLokal campaign for the upcoming six state elections (6PRN). The primary goal of the campaign is to raise voters turnout for the state elections. Historical data of state elections that are not held in conjunction
The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH) launches our 2022 Annual Report detailing the trials and tribulations of BERSIH’s work in an unprecedented political environment. The year 2022 was significant because some reforms agreed by government and opposition parties in the Memorandum of Understanding on Transformation and Political Stability had materialised
The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH) applauds the statement by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim that he is receptive to placing the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) under Parliament and the appointment process of its chief to be vetted by the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC). The Prime Minister said he ‘has no
The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH) welcomes the formation of the 10 Parliamentary Special Select Committees (PSSC) that were approved in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday. Each PSSC will comprise 9 Members of Parliament (MPs) including the Chairman. The 10 PSSCs are: 1) Finance and Economy2) Security3) Health4) Domestic Trade, Entrepreneurship,
The Coalition for Free and Fair Election (Bersih) is pleased to announce that Ooi Kok Hin has been appointed as our Executive Director, effective 20 March 2023. He brings a diverse experience, skills, and network of over eight years in think tanks, civil society and academia. Kok Hin was previously a research
The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH) published a policy brief on options that can be implemented to boost voter turnout in the upcoming state elections in Malaysia. BERSIH suggests having one common election date which should be preannounced months ahead which can help reduce cost and enable "distant advance voting"
The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH) reiterates that the giving of cash handouts or anything valuable during elections is bribery. To eradicate this malady requires not only the consistent enforcement of the Election Offences Act 1954 (EOA), but also the enactment of the Political Financing Act (PFA) and the setting
The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH) welcomes the announcement by PM Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim of his Cabinet line-up last night. It is reflective of the composition of his "unity government" and yet keeping to his election promise to reduce the size of the Cabinet. However, we are dismayed that
The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH) congratulates Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim on his appointment as the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia and we welcome the formation of a mixed coalition government led by Pakatan Harapan (PH) with the support of BN and the Borneo blocs. This brought to an end
The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH) takes exception to the call of Speaker of Dewan Rakyat Tan Sri Azhar Azizan Harun for party leaders to submit statutory declarations (SD) of their MPs who are willing to give support to a PM candidate to form the new government. The Speaker should
As Malaysia is expecting a hung Parliament where no single party or coalition would command a simple majority, The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH) calls upon all political parties to respect the democratic procedures and exercise prudence in their post-election maneuvers to ensure that Malaysia can have a stable Federal
The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH) calls on all broadcast media organisations, in particular, state-owned RTM, Media Prima and Astro, as well as all print and online news portals, to provide fair and balance media coverage for all political parties and independent candidates in the upcoming 15th General Election (GE15).
The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH) strongly condemns any violence and acts of hooliganism toward political rivals. Last night (22 October), a group of thugs disrupted a dinner event by MUDA in the Yong Sheng banquet hall (1) in Muar. A similar interruption happened in a MUDA ceramah in Muar
BERSIH calls upon the Election Commission (EC) and the National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA) to publish their Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on Voting amidst Floods (UndiBanjir). The EC’s special meeting tomorrow (20 October) to decide on nomination and poling days must also cover the contingency plan to prevent unintended vote suppression caused
The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH) is proud to release our Annual Report for the year 2021, a year our nation faced great political upheavals with the declaration of national emergency by then Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on 12 January 2021 with the suspension of Parliament and elections, contestably, to
Malaysians Deserve Better! Make Voting Easier for Out-of-Region and Overseas Voters The celebration of Merdeka Day and Malaysia Day this year is especially meaningful. As a nation, we have come of age. The weak institutions that allowed a Prime Minister to rob the nation of billions of Ringgits are being restored now
The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH) staunchly rejects the push by certain quarters in UMNO to have an early 15th General Election (GE15) to save kleptocrats from justice in court. BERSIH calls upon all parties to instead support a new convention of ‘fixed term parliament’ by allowing the 14th Parliament
The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH) applauds the Federal Court’s decision in upholding former Prime Minister Najib Razak’s convictions and sentences on all 7 counts of abuse of power and misappropriation of funds in the SRC International case, citing that the defence “was inherently inconsistent that it fails to raised
The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH) congratulates the Federal government and Pakatan Harapan (PH) on the passing of the long-overdue Constitutional (Amendment) (No 3) Bill 2022 (Anti-Hopping Amendments) at the Dewan Rakyat today. The passing of this Bill is a testament of the success of the Memorandum of Understanding for