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Two Sabahans meet Namfrel reps in Manila for polls obervation

By Jerry Ombou
Manila trip... Jerry Ombou (left) and Kanul Gindol (right)
after their final preparation meeting for the Manila trip
in Kota Kinabalu yesterday.
KOTA KINABALU : Two Sabahans of the Sabah chapter of Malaysians for Free and Fair Elections (MAFREL) will be in Manila for four days starting tomorrow, holding discussions and sharing notes with the world-renown NAMFREL (National Citizen's for Free Election), in relation to the coming Malaysian general election.

Chairman of Gindol Initiative for Civil Society Borneo, Mr Kanul Gindol, and myself, both as MAFREL volunteers, would learn from the Philippines' experience in election observatory works of which NAMFREL is known to have been doing since early 1980's soon after it was incepted in 1983.
This initiative should be empowering the future polls observation works especially in Sabah, particularly during campaigning and polling period where allegedly abuses had been always existent but skipped the eyes of independent observers.

Ensuring a fair and free election is the utmost priority of MAFREL too and thus why we came up with this self-funded study trip to our experienced neighbour.

While in Manila, the two of us would also have separate meetings with two other NGOs during which we will learn and share knowledge and experiences on promoting civil society in our respective states.

The NGOs are the Philippine Center for Civic Education and Democracy (PCCED) and the Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy (PCID).

The PCID has in the past among others held community programmes such as "Empowering the Ulama of the Philippines", "Electoral and Democratic Reforms in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM)", and "the South-east Asia Forum on Islam and Democracy".

This study trip would definitely come in handy as we look forward to working closely with the various stakeholders in a democratic Sabah, be they the ruling government, the opposition as well as the Malaysian Election Commission in ensuring a fair and free polls for citizens.

34 comments:

  1. Bagus....looking forward to this.

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    Replies
    1. Now Sabah has representatives already.

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    2. yup.its good to know that we have our people in MAFREL.

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    3. Semoga PRU akan datang ini adalah yang terbaik adil dan sebagaiknya.

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    4. setuju dengan Hosie Masie, harap PRU akan datang akan berlangsung dengan lancar dan bersih.

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  2. We need a free and fair election this time around.

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    Replies
    1. Free and fair election should have been ensured since years ago. But its never too late.

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    2. Yes I agree with that. I strongly believe that we need fair election to retain our strength.

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    3. But why with Philippine? actually i did not read the whole article can someone summarized it for me?

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    4. Mafrel mengambil contoh daripada National Movement For Free Election (NAMFREL) yang pernah ditubuhkan di Filipina semasa era pemerintahan diktator , Presiden Marcos.

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    5. semua pun, mahukan pilihan raya yang adil dan bersih.

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  3. I hope they learn something really handle so as to have positive effect upon our electoral system in Sabah.

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    Replies
    1. They are the first batch to have such kind of opportunity. Congratulations.

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    2. Are you saying that there will be more like them in the future?

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    3. Not only in Sabah but the whole Malaysia.

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    4. ya, semoga mereka belajar sesuatu yang baik dari sana.

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  4. The knowlegdge shared and gained has to be implemented in Sabah for good.

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    Replies
    1. Ya setuju. Baru ada makna perjalanan mereka ke Manila.

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    2. Memang betul pernyataan itu. Jangan abaikan masa depan Sabah.

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    3. But is Philippine good example for us?

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  5. I'm certainly looking forward to what might become of this.

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  6. Hopefully we will have a fair and clean election in this coming election .

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  7. Bagus jugalah sebab semua pun mahukan PRU berjalan secara adil dan bersih.

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  8. Semoga usaha ini membuahkan hasil yang positif demi kebaikan bersama.

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    Replies
    1. hasil itu yang kita ingin lihat.

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  9. Tak sabar pula menantikan apa hasil usaha mereka ni nanti. All the best.

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    Replies
    1. Ya harap semua yang mereka usahakan dapat memberi kebaikkan kepada Sabah.

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  10. Harap PRU13 nanti berjalan lancar dan telus bagi memastikan kemenangan yang digapai oleh 'hero' adalah pilihan rakyat :)

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  11. Good luck to both.

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  12. We are waiting for a good news from you guys!

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  13. As we already have MAFREL, we no need to get independent observers from outside.

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    Replies
    1. cuma MAFREL perlu meningkatkan kredibiliti, integriti dan berupaya mengawal gabungan-gabungannya serta memberi komitmen jitu untuk bertindak tidak bercanggah dengan prisip dan etika sesuatu badan pemerhati bebas.

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  14. harap mereka akan memperoleh sesuatu yang positif di Sana.

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  15. semoga penambahbaikan akan sentiasa dibuat dari masa ke masa.

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