Election Commission should relax the Sarawak General Election SOPs to ensure that the holding of “clean, free and fair election” is not curbed on the specious ground of preventing the spread of Covid-19 infection

The Election Commission should relax the Sarawak General Election SOPs to ensure that the holding of “clean, free and fair election” is not curbed on the specious ground of preventing the spread of Covid-19 infection.

Everybody agrees that in the Sarawak general election, everyone must not take their eyes off from the Covid-19 pandemic and must do everything possible to prevent Covid-19 infections, but this should not be used as an excuse to prevent the holding of a “clean, free and fair” general election.

It is on these grounds that I disagree with some of the SOPs for the Sarawak general election which had been announced.

For instance, there is no reason for limiting inter-state travel for campaign to five top leaders of a party, which is to curb “clean, free and fair” election rather than to curb the spread of Covid-19 infection.

There is also no justification to confine ceramahs to 64 named constituencies on the ground of “poor internet access”. What is important is to comply with Covid-19 SOPs to prevent the spread of Covid-19 infections and not whether there is internet access or not.

If the named 60 constituencies can hold ceramahs if they comply with the Covid-19 SOPs, there is no reason why all constituencies cannot hold ceramahs if the Covid-19 SOPs are similarly complied with – unless the reason is to help particular political parties by giving them an unfair advantage in the Sarawak general election in the balance of the 22 constituencies through methods which are the very opposite of “clean, free and fair” election.

The present Sarawak general election SOPs serve the objective of preventing Covid-19 infections but not the objective of ensuring a “clean, free and fair” election.

The Election Commission should immediately consult with all political parties on how the Sarawak general election SOPs can be relaxed to meet both objectives of preventing the spread of Covid-19 infections and the holding of “clean, free and fair election” and amend the Sarawak general election SOPs.