KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 19 — The Bersih People’s Tribunal on the 13th general election happening now is merely a publicity stunt that has no legal grounds to make an impact, Attorney-General (A-G) Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail said today
The government’s top lawyer was asked to weigh in as the Election Commission (EC) had earlier said it was waiting for an official reply from the Attorney-General’s Chambers as to whetehr it should or should not join in the tribunal hearing, which kicked off yesterday.
“It has no legal basis … It is just a form of publicity. The tribunal was held to get a response,” Abdul Gani told news portal Astro Awani here, adding, “It is different from an RCI, we have an Act for that.”
An RCI or Royal Commission of Inquiry is a formal public inquiry into a specific issue that is granted considerable powers by the monarch in Commonwealth countries, sometimes more than judges but is limited by the specific terms of its reference.
Abdul Gani also questioned the presence of foreign representative in the tribunal’s panel, and described their alleged “meddling” as something which is “not good”.
According to Astro Awani, EC’s chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof has also expressed his doubts over the tribunal’s legal standing.
“We have to wait for the tribunal’s excuse from the legal side. Under what basis are they holding the tribunal?” asked Abdul Aziz.
The People’s Tribunal on the 13th general election, which is organised by polls watchdog Bersih, is holding a hearing until Sunday to look into the many complaints of alleged vote-rigging in the May 5 general election.
Yesterday, it heard allegations involving voter ferrying, the failure of indelible ink to prevent repeat voting and the premature tallying of ballots that had surfaced during the May 5 polls.
Klang MP Charles Santiago also alleged that an Umno assistant registrar had registered a voter in Klang without his knowledge for Election 2013.
The citizen’s initiative does not have the legal authority to enforce its recommendations, but has the “moral authority” to be accepted by Putrajaya, according to Bersih.
The five-member People’s Tribunal is led by Yash Pal Ghai, a former United Nations Special Representative and constitutional law expert.
The other members are former Indonesian Electoral Commission deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti, prominent lawyer Datuk Azzat Kamaludin, University of Malaya associate senior fellow Mavis Puthucheary and Rev Dr Hermen Shastri, the general secretary of the Council of Churches of Malaysia.
