When incumbent ruling coalition is afraid of new voters

YB Elizabeth Wong shared the following in Facebook:

I was at the Selangor Election Commission's office this morning to check out the voter objection hearing process. I was shocked to find out a total of 354 voters from the Subang Parliamentary constituency (of which Kota Damansara, Paya Jaras and Bukit Lanjan are part of) were objected.

About half made it to today's hearing and had their voting right reinstated. Of those present, some took emergency leave, some took unpaid leave, some postponed work and meeting arrangements and some came at the eleventh hour after receiving the EC's PosLaju letter only yesterday.

The atmosphere in the room was tense and some felt confused as to why they were objected randomly. Nevertheless, every single one present were determined to make sure their right to vote will be reinstated in time for GE14.

After checking with some of them, I realised they were not randomly selected.

1. Majority of the objected voters had registered for change of voting address at the Post Office.
2. Almost all were Chinese.
3. They had applied to move to two seats in Subang Parliament ie. DUN Kota Damansara and DUN Paya Jaras - seats which UMNO has high stakes in retaining or wresting.
4. Majority of the Objectors (Pembantah) came from one address: No 10, Jalan Pekaka 8/3, Seksyen 8, Kota Damansara 47810 Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. (This is the address of UMNO Bahagian Subang)

The process was thankfully fast. Upon being called into a separate room, they were asked a few questions: How far is the community hall from your house, how far is a certain petrol station from your house etc.

The more time consuming process was the queue due to the numbers that turned up. Some waited for up to four hours for their turn.

On the Objector's side (pembantah) side, only a handful, maybe 4 or 5 at most turned up. According to the EC's rules and regulations on objecting voters, each pembantah is allowed to object up to 20 names. A total of 354 objected voters would mean at least 18 pembantahs should have been present to face the persons they objected. Where were they?

Also seen was a man and a lady with a child in charge of distributing RM100 bills 'compensation' to the objected voters present. Someone must have upfront RM35,400 cash to this person to pay on the spot!

Kudos to those present and who were determined not to leave until their rights to be a voter were reinstated.

Please inform those who may have received a letter from the EC either by registered post or PosLaju. There is nothing to be worried if they are called to the hearing. If you are unsure of your voting status, log onto http://daftarj.spr.gov.my/DAFTARJ and key in your IC number.

We know there is only one party who fears new voters more than anything. Don't let them take away your fundamental rights!

Elizabeth Wong
18 April 2017

Received via email, and I have no reason to doubt that this is authentic.... 

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dr. 

Sharing my ex colleague 's experience ... "How I received RM100 for being eligible to Vote"
Now I know why Money wins elections in Malaysia

"Changing my voting station is a challenge."
I decided to update my polling centre to my residential address 10 months ago (to Dusun Tua, PAS incumbent). About 4 weeks ago I received a notice that my application has received a Bantahan which required me to attend a public investigation. If I wish to continue to be eligible to vote, I would need to show up at SPR office, at a specific time, for a hearing**.

** Kegagalan Tuan/Puan untuk hadir semasa Siasatan Awam ini, akan menyebabkan nama Tuan/Puan dikeluarkan dari RDPT bekenaan.


"At the hearing."
I was one of the first to arrived and soon the waiting room was filled with people. My name was in one of several lists of Dibantah. A quick glance around the room and at the lists showed that at least 80% were ethnic Chinese.
At my turn, my Pembantah and myself were shown to another room and took our oath before a judge. The Pembantah was a middle aged man that I have never met before. His name was Abd Halim bin Md Yunus.

His excuse for challenging my application was "He didn't see anyone at home, and my neighbors did not know me". This was of course a lie because I live in a gated and guarded residence, so he wouldn't have been able to enter my Taman without my permission. And I've been living here for 9 years. Thankfully the judge has ruled his challenge as "failed".

"My compensation"
Because I have won this challenge, the Pembantah has to pay me compensation for my hardship. The judge has decided compenation of RM100. So I approached my Pembantah and asked for it.

"The best part - how I got my RM100"
Abd Halim told me he has no money. He said his boss will pay me later. I objected and threatened to sue him. He panicked and repeated that his boss didn't give him money.
So I pressed on and asked for the boss's name. And he told me. It's UMNO!!! According to Abd Halim, his big boss is UMNO branch secretary Noridah binti Mohd Amir. He showed me his SPR filing documentation to confirm it. But he doesn't have her contact number, so he gave me his supervisor's mobile number instead. Her name is Rohani Kassim. I called and spoke to her and she simply said she'll pay up.

At this stage, many others in the SPR Office took notice and made similar appeal.

Suddenly I notice a Malay man in dark sunglasses standing outside the SPR office signaling to all the Pembantahs and they all left at once. Thereafter all the hearings were "walkover wins" (no Pembantah).

Shortly, a young man (Hairul Shahrizal Hamdan) showed up in the SPR Office and just started paying all of us, on the Pembantahs' behalf, without any fuss. I asked him why he was paying for all the Pembantah? But he just kept quiet.

Anyway, that is how I got my RM100.

....

What would happen to the accused if they hadn't shown up?
How would the elderly show up?
How many votes would have been denied this way?

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