Malaysians4Change Road Map Part 2 - PACA Training

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Malaysians4Change Road Map Part 2 - PACA Training

See Part 1 here.

3.8 Civilian Army to manage & run Election Campaign

Our associates in Johor has started a programme to train civil society on how to run election campaigns. A very important element is to make sure that voting is conducted in accordance with procedures mandated by law. For that trained Polling Agents and Counting Agents (PACA) are required.

The Johor People's Action Group (JPAG) will be conducting a training on: (See flyer)

Date : 17th November 2010 (Wednesday, a public holiday)
Time : 9.30am – 1pm
Venue: Wisma PKK, Tmn Sutera Utama, next to Seri Omega & Kuo Kuang 2

Also in Malaysia-today....

Many of us want to see change in our nation. However certain steps
must be done for this to happen. One of the measures to achieve this
development is to do registration of eligible voters who have not
registered. This is an on-going exercise which was started in January
2010.

Since the Sibu by–election it was discovered that there are many
fraudulent practices being utilized to prevent a free and fair
election result. If this is left unchecked this has very serious
implications on our nation at the next General Election.

Thus it has become necessary to ensure that there are sufficient
Polling and Counting agents (PACA) to ensure a fair result for just
that one day in the event of the next General Election which is
believed to be held within the next 6-8 months.

Thus, we calling upon all concerned citizens to uphold justice and
fairness by being a PACA for just that one day. In order to do so one
has to undergo half a day’s training.

In the circumstances Mr. Ong Chee Yong a senior Advocate & Solicitor
who has researched the Election Offences Act will be conducting PACA
training as follows:-

Date : 17th November 2010 (Wednesday, a public holiday)
Time : 9.30am – 1pm
Venue: Wisma PKK, Tmn Sutera Utama, next to Seri Omega & Kuo Kuang 2

Please register for the training by e-mailing to paca@ccem.ws or SMS
to 016-7020011 stating PACA TRAINING with your name/s. It would help
us to ensure that a place is reserved for you and adequate materials
are printed. Please let us know by the 15th November.

A flyer for the event is attached. Please circulate to those who may
be interested. Thank you.

An initiative by JPAG (Johor People Action Group)

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Imagine you were watching a football game where the outcome has a big bearing on your lives, would you want to ensure that the game is played fairly so that the team you support has a chance to win? Imagine further if the opposing team starts off with a 6-goal advantage, the referee, linesmen actively help them and the goal posts can be shifted at will, and even the time for the end of the game can changed! Would that be a fair game?

You can observe from this chart, UMNO/BN enjoys a 6% advantage in the popular vote. Even if UMNO/BN wins 47% of the vote and the opposition wins 53%, UMNO/BN will still scrape through with 50% of the Parliamentary seats.

Raja Petra Kamarudin

I remember, eleven years ago, back in 1999, the opposition coalition, Barisan Alternatif, faced one of the most fraudulent general elections in Malaysian history. Nevertheless, they did not do too badly in spite of it -- although they would have done much better if not for the fraud.

Soon after that we had a meeting with the Elections Commission (SPR) to present them with a thick dossier of proposed electoral reforms. Top of the list was of course the postal voting system, which we were of the view, had already outlived its usefulness and therefore should be abolished.

The reply the SPR gave us shocked us into silence. “If we abolish the postal voting system then not a single Cabinet Minister would be able to remain in office,” the SPR replied.

After we had regained our composure, we asked the SPR is not the purpose of the Election Commission to manage clean, free and fair elections in Malaysia? That was when the second shocker was delivered. “The purpose of the SPR is to ensure that the Malays do not lose political power,” we were told. Malaysia-today....

Simply-said, the SPR is collaborating with UMNO/BN to cheat during elections and they have been doing it for the past 53 years! Is it any wonder that UMNO/BN always win?

A few factors give UMNO/BN this advantage, some very long-term and some short-term. We will cover only the most glaring ones, otherwise this article will be too long.

Long-term:

Gerry-mandering:
Shifting electoral boundaries to give UMNO/BN an advantage.
Concentrate opposition voters in one large seat while spreading UMNO/BN supporters over several small seats and yet maintain a majority.

Phantom Voters:
Illegals given MyKads to vote. Hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants (Pendatang Tanpa Izin, PTI) were brought in through Sabah so much so much so the Kadazan majority has become a minority today.

Misallocation of Voters:
14,000 voters were shifted around in the Apr 2010 Hulu Selangor By-election.

Postal Voters:
They come from the Govt officers stationed overseas, police, military and SPR officers. Even the spouses can become postal voters although they don't work for the government. These voters cannot vote in secret so they are constrained to vote for UMNO/BN. In practice, up to 96% do. What is even more damaging is that they can shift the postal voters at will, even at the last minute to create majorities in marginal seats.

Every 8 years, the SPR can shift the boundaries and it only require a simple Parliamentary majority to push it through. The next one coming up is Mar 2011. Monitor closely and prepare to protest if you are shifted around.

The other tactic the SPR use is to increase the number of seats in UMNO/BN secure states. They did this in Johor, Sabah and Sarawak (27% of votes but 37% of Parliamentary seats). But this requires a 2/3 majority to push through. That is why it is very dangerous to let UMNO/BN have such a majority.

Please refer to the attached powerpoints to read more.... Some slides are repetitive as they apply under different contexts. You are welcome to use it to explain the issues to their friends.

In conclusion, if you want to create a more level playing field during elections, civil society has to take part actively, train as Polling Agents and Counting Agents (PACA) to make sure that on polling day itself, voting is conducted in a fair manner. The other parts of the unfair system will be left to the Parliamentarians and BERSIH 2.0 to sort out. To give BERSIH 2.0 more clout, we should join them as members.

See comments in Malaysia-today Malaysia-today....

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These two attachments can serve as a primer for Polling Agent, Counting Agent - PACA:

General Elections Basic PACA Guidelines 2007.pps

PACA Undi Ragu 050510.pps

Later on, more detailed Standard Operating Procedures will be introduced. Readers who are interested to receive training may register with us at vnet5m@gmail.com providing their personal details such as:
Name, I/C, Residential address, voting locality (check online at http://daftarj.spr.gov.my/daftarj/daftar.aspx), mobile no., IT proficiency with respect to Word, Spreadsheet, Database, profession, political affiliation, previous experience in PACA, what day is preferred for the course. Selection to attend training will depend on availability of trainers and venue.

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Three charts are presented below to help to visualize the work flow:

Legend:

EC: Election Commission,
GOTV: Get Out The Voters
PACA: Polling Agent/Counting Agent

Refer to Malaysians4Change Road Map Part 3 for description of the Forms.

Task Force, Before Counting & From Counting

Part 2_2 1 PACABA Task Force sc 101110.jpg



Part 2_2 2 Normal Voting-Before counting sc 090610.jpg



Part 2_2 3 Normal voting-From counting sc 190410.jpg

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Running Election Campaigns don't come cheap. For UMNO/BN it can vary from RM 2 million upwards to a hundred million after taking into account the promised development projects, which are the people's money. In other words, they are using the tax-payer's money to bribe the voters.

The Elections Act limit the permissible amount to RM 200,000 for Parliamentary seats, which none of the political parties comply with. This money has to come from somewhere and you can bet it won't be from the politicians' pockets. Eventually, the taxpayer pays.

It is therefore in our interest to help the political parties to reduce their cost of campaigning. That is where civil society comes in by volunteering to act as PACAs and help in other forms of campaigning. That hopefully, can help to reduce political corruption as the parties will not be under so much pressure to recover their "investments" spent during campaigning. By helping the Pakatan Parties this way, we help to level the uneven playing field created by the SPR in collaboration with UMNO/BN.

The slides below represent a complete PACA training module. It is also added as an attachment for those who wish to use it to train others.













































End of Polling Agent (PA) Module. Next - Counting Agent (CA) Module.

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Counting Agent Module

Powerpoint available for downloading as an attachment - 41 slides.

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This is another version of the PACA Training Manual. This has been drafted by a lawyer and has a good analysis of the legal aspects of the role of the PACA and their rights and responsibilities. It is useful to read different manuals as we get to see it from different angles, thus helping in our understanding.

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PACA Training Video by tvselangor:

Modules 1 - 14.

It is possible to watch the videos online. (22 Apr 2011: Note by Admin - the video has been removed from YouTube)

Producer: Steven Choong.