Tell the truth on electoral rolls, EC told

By Tony Thien

Malaysiakini

2006-05-06 | An independent Malaysian election watchdog has told the Election Commission (EC) chairperson Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman and EC secretary/chief registrar Kamaruzaman Mohd Noor “to seriously consider their positions for misleading the public by maintaining the electoral rolls for the Sarawak state election is clean when it is not."

Stopping short of calling on the duo to resign, Malaysian for Free and Fair Elections (Mafrel) executive chairperson Abdul Malik Hussin said morally they should consider their positions for what he alleged as misleading the public regarding the authenticity of the electoral rolls gazetted on March 8 this year for use in the state elections.

The EC chief said recently that to the best of his knowledge, the electoral rolls were clean.

“But based on our preliminary findings of our focus verification of electoral rolls covering Kuching, Sibu and Miri, we've found there are many discrepancies which the EC need to explain and rectify,” Abd Malik said.

This relates to addresses used to register voters, he added.

Unrecognised voters

For example, according to Abdul Malik, in one address in Sibu town within the Bawang Assan state constituency, 94 electors were registered at a five-storey office block of an accounting firm which is also the address of 14 registered companies.

(Supp Sibu branch chairperson and state second finance minister Wong Soon Koh is the incumbent for Bawang Assan).

Mafrel made a visit to the address and met someone who could only recognise one out of the 94 names registered as electors at that single address.

In another case, 56 voters were registered at a single address in a three-storey shophouse within the Padungan state constituency which is part of Bandar Kuching parliamentary constituency.

The top floor of the shophouse was once occupied by DAP and it was locked when Mafrel visited the address, he added.

The respondent who operates a unisex hair saloon on the first floor said she was registered at her residential address.

"Something is definitely wrong here," Abdul Malik said.

In another address in Foochow Road No 1 which is under the Pending state constituency, 26 electors were registered there, although the respondent, the owner and occupant of the house who has lived there for more than 20 years, could only recognise her own name and those of eight other family members from the list.

"Who are the 17 unrecognised electors?," Abd Malik asked, adding that the respondent was greatly concerned that strangers had used her double-storey terrace house as their address to register.

At one address in Kampung Lintang under the Semariang state constituency, Abdul Malik said Mafrel learned from the occupants of the house that of the 22 electors registered at the address, four were already deceased for between more than six and 10 years.

Work with NRD

The Mafrel chief said the EC could easily resolve such a problem by working closely with the National Registration Department to delete the names of electors who had died.

"The EC's job is not only to prepare but also revise the electoral rolls which can be easily resolved through an integration system with the National Registration Department to delete the names of dead electors without the next-of-the-kin having to inform the EC," he added.

Abdul Malik said there were 'many names of dead electors still on the electoral rolls' based on Mafrel's findings of electoral rolls in this state elections so far and in the electoral rolls for the Pangkalan Pasir by-election in Kelantan in December last year..

It was important to revise the rolls, especially in marginal cases where unscruplous people could make use of dead electors' records to vote as had happened before, he added.

For example, he said PAS had lodged a police reports regarding the use of such records in the Pangkalan Pasir by-election which was won by the BN. (End Malaysiakini Article)

Press Conference (6-5-2006)

Meanwhile, in a press statement, Mafrel Sibu coordinator released a press statement as follows:

MAFREL Sibu section is calling a press conference at 10.00am today -6th May (Saturday), at no.12 Jln Keranji 4 (above Soon Kwang café) to highlight major findings in Sibu’s electoral verification exercise carried out by its volunteers in the last few days. Foremost is the finding that : possibly as many as thousands of electors listed by the Election Commision produced voters’ list in Sibu could be untraceable due to the Election Commission’s mishandling of their address.8 addresses from the list-which incidentally come from Rajang Park, with voters above 25 persons had been submitted to the Sibu City Council for assistance to help locate them –only to find that even the Council –who create the municipality’s addresses, throwing their hands up! MAFREL will exhibit at the PC a map given by the Council to illustrate its frustration.

`We met the Council’s Valuation Officer who confirmed that the addresses had been messed up by the Election Commission and rendered untraceable!’ Stated Ong Boon Keong who is the Coordinator for Mafrel’s Sibu section. `Since there are a lot more similar addresses it means that easily thousands of voters are untraceable –thus creating a suspicion of unfairness via the electoral roll! We call upon the EC to provide immediate correction before the nomination day to forestall any suspicion of unfairness in Sarawak’s state elections! ’

`The voters must be accessible to all candidates through competently prepared and updated voters’ rolls before any elections can be called free and fair. Thus the apparently untraceable voters found here cast doubt on the EC’s capability to carry out its statutory duties!’

`As an interim measure Mafrel Sibu section is considering seriously whether to advertise the voters’ name and IC number listed in the untraceable lists to allow the voters to publicise their addresses to all parties concerned in the elections!’

Other than the above the election watchers also found a number of other irregularities such as a voter with IC no. 981231130218 –look out if the potential centurian come to vote!

Enq. 013-5900339 (Ong)

Reference Links

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