KUALA LUMPUR, 4 Mar — Barisan Nasional (BN) would hand over the reins of government peacefully if it loses power in the incoming 13th General Election, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz.
Nazri said so today at the International Conference on Malaysia 13th General Elections, organized by the Office of the Leader of Opposition at the Royal Lake Club here, further claiming that BN would not form government “by cheating or any improper means”.
“We [BN] don’t want to form a government without a mandate from the people. We will hand over peacefully,” he said.
The de facto Law Minister spoke in the first of the seven sessions of the conference, entitled ‘An appraisal of the electoral democracy in Malaysia’. The session also had the President of the Malaysian Bar, Lim Chee Wee and the DAP Parliamentary Leader, Lim Kit Siang as speakers. Merdeka Center’s Ibrahim Suffian moderated the session.
Commenting on BN’s commitment in respecting any kind of outcome from the polls, Nazri insisted that BN would not make attempts to buy MPs or assemblypersons to cross over in the event of a BN loss.
Nazri, also Member of Parliament for Padang Rengas, later claimed that the prime minister and the BN-led government have never meddled with the affairs of the Election Commission (EC).
“We have never interfered with the running of the EC,” Nazri said, insisting that, according to his own experiences, such things never took place.
He later stated that it is the position of the government of the day to be “committed” towards having free and fair elections.
“Please do not doubt us. We will listen.”
The two-day conference, which begins today, is held at the wake of the serious concerns regarding the integrity of the electoral process — with speakers from both sides of the political floor were invited to speak on issues surrounding the better handling of elections in Malaysia.
The list of invited speakers for the conference includes Secretary for the EC, Kamaruddin Mohamed Baria; the Member of Parliament for Kota Belud, Abdul Rahman Dahlan; former IIUM professor of law, Dr Abdul Aziz Bari; BERSIH chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan, and Opposition Leader, Anwar Ibrahim. — The Rocket
