Make candidate picks fully transparent, PH advised
KUALA LUMPUR: Pakatan Harapan was elected in part on its pledges of accountability and transparency, and the coalition could have begun by opening up its candidate selection to full scrutiny, said Indonesia’s youthoriented Indonesia Solidarity Party (PSI).
In an interview with Malay Mail, PSI central leadership committee chief Tsamara Amany Alatas said Malaysians were still uninformed about how the candidates they voted for were selected by the parties, and said this should have been made more open.
“When you nominate an MP, the candidate knows that he is selected three to four days before elections, and then you only have 11 days to campaign. I think you need to show people the process of how and why an MP candidate is elected.
“People will know why somebody deserves to be their MP candidate. Right now, you have a new government, I think you need more than 11 days to campaign so people can get to know their MPs better,” the 22-year-old PSI candidate for Indonesian’s 2019 election said.
Her remarks dovetail with the public reaction to the appointment of some lesser-known lawmakers as ministers in the Malaysian Cabinet.
PSI chairman Grace Natalie echoed the sentiment, explaining that due to the trust deficit in the Indonesian parliament, her party developed an independent screening of their potential parliamentary candidates.
The process includes a “live” broadcast on social media of the candidates’ interviews by an independent panel comprising former leaders of the constitutional court, former ministers and retired anti-corruption officers.
This also prevents the party leadership from having too much power in selecting their favoured candidates, effectively curbing cronyism and decentralising the power base.
“So, even as a chairman, I don’t have the authority (to select our candidates). We choose not to use our authority. We invite these independent people to interview our MP candidate.
“Even Tsamara, who wants to run for MP, she must be interviewed by the independent committee and we broadcast it ‘live’ through our social media platform, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and you can still access those videos and how the interviews were conducted.
“So, this way, we practise professional and transparent political recruitment,” said Natalie.
To further address the real concern of Indonesian MPs underperforming in office, PSI is also developing an app for the public to evaluate their MPs, just as how they would rate Grab car drivers or Airbnb services.
The MP rating service is expected to be launched next year after Indonesia’s 2019 general elections and those who have contributed 100,000 rupiah (RM30) to PSI will be granted access via the app.
“Our application is something like an Uber rating system. This is interconnected with our fundraising mechanism. If they donate 100,000 rupiah, we give them this Kartu Sakti (magic card), it’s electronic money (similar to Touch ‘n Go) and they will have access to an ecommunity.
“When you donate, you have access to our community and direct access to MPs from national to district level, and then you can rate the MP through this mechanism if their performance is bad,” she explained.