Home Coalitions Clean and Fair Elections Pemilihan tok batin, pemimpin kampung cara untuk hapuskan ugutan undi

Pemilihan tok batin, pemimpin kampung cara untuk hapuskan ugutan undi

File photograph: Malay Mail Online

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[ENGLISH VERSION BELOW] Gabungan Pilihan Raya Bersih dan Adil (Bersih 2.0) menggesa calon Pakatan Harapan, Barisan Nasional dan dua calon bebas dalam pilihan raya kecil P078 Cameron Highland untuk menyokong penghasilan pucuk pimpinan kampung dan komuniti tempatan termasuk tok batin untuk komuniti Orang Asli serta ketua kampung dan ahli-ahli jawatankuasa kemajuan dan keselamatan kampung melalui pengundian dan bukan lantikan politik.

Ugutan yang dibuat pada 11 Januari 2019 oleh Senator Bob Manolan ke atas tok-tok batin agar menyokong kerajaan Pakatan Harapan sememangnya menunjukkan kemudaratan besar apabila pucuk pimpinan kampung atau komiuniti seperti tok batin tidak dipilih oleh orang kampung tetapi dilantik sama ada oleh kerajaan persekutuan mahupun kerajaan negeri.

Sekiranya elaun sebanyak RM900-RM1,200, menurut Bob Manolan boleh digunakan untuk memaksa sokongan tok batin untuk parti pemerintah, bagaimanakah komuniti Orang Asli boleh mengharapkan pemimpin mereka untuk tegak membela hak mereka kelak?

Menafikan hak orang kampung memilih ketua dan pemimpin mereka pada pokoknya adalah satu bentuk korupsi pilihanraya di mana wakil-wakil parti pemerintah dilantik untuk memonopolikan kecapaian kepada sumber kerajaan dan menyemai imbuhan.

Bersih 2.0 menyeru agar semua kerajan negeri mengadakan pilihan raya peringkat kampung yang meliputi kampung tradisional, kampung baru, kampung tersusun dan komuniti Orang Asli/Asal.

Bersih 2.0 juga menegaskan bahawa kerajaan persekutuan Pakatan Harapan tidak harus mengulangi taktik menjijikkan untuk mewujudkan pimpinan kampung lantikan perseketuan di negeri-negeri yang diperintah oleh parti pembangkang untuk diisi oleh orang kuat parti pemerintah di kampung, sebagaimana yang dituntut oleh Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman, naib-presiden Bersatu di dalam mesyuarat agunng tahunan parti pada penghujung 2018.

Kepada calon Pakatan Harapan, M Manogaran yang beruntung jika ugutan Senator Bob Manolan berkesan, jika beliau tidak bersetujui dengan ugutan itu, maka Bersih 2.0 cadangkan beliau untuk menyokong kuat pemilihan pimpinan kampung dan komuniti melalui pengundian.

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Pemuda Umno telah membuat laporan polis terhadap ugutan Bob Manolan terhadap tok batin. Bersih 2.0 berpandangan bahawa senator tersebut harus disiasat dibawah Seksyen 9 (pengaruh tidak wajar) di bawah Akta Kesalahan Pilihanraya dan bukannya di bawah Seksyen 124b (aktiviti yang menjejaskan demokrasi berparlimen) di bawah Kanun Keseksaan.

Namun bantahan Pemuda Umno itu tidak bermakna langusng malah nampak kehipokritannya sekiranya Umno yang menguasai kerajaan negeri Pahang terus menafikan hak orang kampung untuk memilih pucuk pimpinan mereka.

Calon Barisan Nasional, Ramli Mohd Nor, yang merupakan pemegang jawatan tertinggi Orang Asli dalam pasukan polis, harus membuat pendirian yang jelas sama ada beliau menyokong hak autonomi yang minimum ini untuk komuniti Orang Asli.

Sekalipun jika Bob Manolan tidak membuat kenyataan tersebut, komuniti Orang Asli mahupun anggota komuniti di tempat lain tetap terdedah kepada tekanan kepartian selagi mereka dinafikan hak untuk memilih pimpinan dan ganjaran pimpinan mereka tidak terlindung daripada dendam kepartian. Ini hakikat yang mesti diiktiraf oleh Pakatan Harapan, Barisan Nasional dan semua parti yang lain.

Jawatankuasa pemandu Bersih 2.0

English version

Village/community leadership elections the way to end extortion of votes

The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections 2.0 (Bersih 2.0) calls upon Pakatan Harapan, Barisan National and the two independent candidates to support elections of village and local community leadership heads including Orang Asli community heads (tok batin), chairpersons and members of village development and security committees.

The threat made by PKR Senator Bob Manolan on 11 January 2019 underlines exactly the perils when village and community leadership are not elected but appointed – whether by federal or state governments.

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If allowances of RM900-RM1,200 – according to Bob Manolan — can be used to force tok batin to support government parties, how can the Orang Asli count on their leaders to defend their interests?

The denial of elections for village leadership heads is ultimately a form of electoral corruption so that appointees representing government parties get to build support by monopolising government resources and dispensing favours.

Bersih 2.0 calls upon all state governments to hold village elections, covering traditional kampongs new villages, kampung tersusun and indigenous communities.

Bersih 2.0 also stresses that the federal government must not revive the unscrupulous practice of appointing its own grassroots leaders to be the federally-appointed village leadership heads in opposition-held states as a means of patronage, a demand made by Bersatu vice-president Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman in the party’s general assembly at the end of 2018.

To the PH candidate M. Manogaran who stands to gain if the threat made by Senator Bob Manolan was effective, Bersih 2.0 suggests him to categorically pledge his support for village and community leadership elections, if he disagree with the threat made by the Senator.

Umno Youth has lodged a report against Bob Manolan. We believe the senator should be investigated under Section 9 (undue influence) of the Election Offences Act, not Section 124b (activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy) of the Penal Code.

Umno Youth’s objection to the senator would however be meaningless and even hypocritical if the Umno-led Pahang state government continues to deny voters in Pahang the right to elect their village and community leadership.

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The Barisan Nasional’s candidate, Ramli Mohd Nor, the highest-ranking Orang Asli officer in the police force, should also make clear if he supports this minimum state of autonomy for the Orang Asli community.

Even if Bob Manolan did not make the statement, the Orang Asli communities – and other village communities – may still be subject to partisan pressure as long as they cannot elect their leadership and their leadership’s remuneration is not protected from partisan retaliation. This is a fact that Pakatan Harapan, Barisan Nasional and all other parties must acknowledge.

Bersih 2.0 steering committee

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