Accommodative Myanmar On Observers

From Leslean Arshad YANGON (Myanmar), April 2 (Bernama) -- Accommodative and cooperative, that's what members of the Malaysian delegation invited to observe the Myanmar by-elections on Sunday summed up their assignment. Malaysian Ambassador to Myanmar Dr Ahmad Faisal Muhamad, one of the invited observers in the reform-pursuing Myanmar by-elections, said Myanmar had clearly showed strong commitment to ensure the by-elections were very transparent and open. "As far as they can accommodate they would accommodate so long as there is no distruption to the process. "Until the counting process, it was all very transparent and accommodative on their part," he said. The Malaysian observers had visited seven polling stations in three constituencies of Hlega, Mayangon and Mingala Taungnyunt to observe the voting process on Sunday. The team was made up of two Members of Parliament, an Election Commission official, three officials from the Malaysian Embassy in Myanmar and personnel from the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) and Radio Television Malaysia (RTM). "They try to address every enquiry that we raised. They give us access, in fact beyond the guidelines they provided us in the beginning," he said. On the voting process, Ahmad Faisal described the system flow from the start up to the end as being quite "good and clear" though there were some aspects that could be improved. Based on the interaction with representatives of the political parties at the polling centres, he said, they were largely happy with the election process. He was also encouranged with the peaceful and orderly manner of the polls being conducted. Another Malaysian observer, Silam member of parliament Salleh Kalbi who concurred with Ahmad Faisal, said that there were several aspects that Malaysia could learn from Myanmar in terms of conducting elections in a peaceful manner. He proposed that the Malaysian and Myanmar election commissions undertake an exchange programme in terms of staff so that both countries could learn from each other. Salleh was also encouranged by the huge turnout of electors to vote in the by-elections, saying that it had been conducted according to regulation and code of conduct. "The Myanmar people are aware of their duty (to vote) as citizens," he said. Another Malaysian observer, Kulim-Bandar Baharu member of parliament Zulkifli Noordin said overall, the polls had been conducted in a free, fair and transparent manner. He was also impressed with the accesibility to the voters and they could vote in a relaxed environment. He said the involvement of the political parties at the polling centres were minimal, only as observers at the polling stations, while Union's Election Commission were merely facilitating the voters and "not even talking to the voters." Prior to the by-elections, Zulkifli said he had the impression that the polls would be rigid with military presence all over the centres. "We hardly see policemen around except the security personnel. No military, forget about the tanks...nothing. "The voters, they are very free, they don't feel intimated, harrased either by the authority or stakeholders," he said. -- BERNAMA