I'll be damned...

if I have badmouthed the Election Commission without justification.

“There are no phantom voters” screamed the headline on the front page of The New Sunday Times, quoting Election Commission secretary, Kamaruzaman. On the same page:

Q: How do you deal with a complaint that 70 people are claiming to live at one address?

A: One thousand people can live there, Everybody has an address, but not everybody has a house number. In some areas where the local authority does not provide services, they don’t give you a house number. At my kampung in Pengkalan Petah, Kelantan, we use only one shop, Kedai Deraman, everybody uses that shop as their address. There are more than 30 houses in that kampung. So, when people write to you, they put your name, and the kampung name. That’s the address.

Now I know the modus operandi! My address in Batu Gajah happens to be based on a Lot number followed by a kampong name. I registered using the address and ‘someone’, probably an Assistant Registration Officer, did something sinister and put me under the following address for 1999 and 2004 General Elections:

Lokaliti: 071/43/06/011 – KAMPONG PASIR BARU SG TRAP
Daerah Mengundi: 071/43/06 – SRI JAYA
DUN: 071/43 –SUNGAI RAPAT
Parlimen: 071 – GOPENG
Negeri: PERAK

In other words, by using a kampung name, numerous voters' names can be assigned there, without authority, and without raising suspicion.

On page 9, he was quoted as saying, “It’s a lot of fun working for the EC because we get a lot of pahala kering (free merit points particularly when people badmouth you without justification). You are free to say anything about the EC and me. As long as we don’t do anything wrong, I’ll collect the arrears in the Hereafter.”

I wish to take him on, on this challenge of his, but I would advise our good Dato not to assume such heavy responsibility on behalf of the EC and especially the BN government, as many dubious ways could have been done without his knowledge. Is it worth it?

Why can’t the government be more receptive to Bersih’s views if everything was clean as claimed?

Again, since we have short memory, from Malaysiakini:

Bersih to EC: Here’s the proof!
March 29th, 2007
Andrew Ong

While Election Commission chairperson Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman claims that his detractors have ‘no proof’ of the commission’s faults, election reform movement Bersih said he had ignored the obvious. Bersih, comprising 26 NGOs and five opposition political parties, today listed several recent glaring election irregularities:

· Releasing electoral rolls to candidates three days before polling
· Releasing electoral rolls to candidates that are starkly different from the ones held by EC officials at polling centres
· Not publishing electoral rolls for public scrutiny prior to the general elections Missing ballot papers in the Kuala Terengganu and Lumut parliamentary seats
· Existence of non-citizens in the electoral roll during the 2001 Likas by-election

Judicial review

Furthermore, Bersih pointed out that several allegations pertaining to the 2004 general elections brought up in a judicial review case initiated by Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), also remains unanswered. Among the issues raised in the case were:

· Use of several versions of electoral rolls by the EC
· Allowing pondok panas (campaign booths at polling centres) at the last minute in contravention of the law
· The extension of voting time in Selangor up to 7pm
· The practice of writing the voter’s serial number on the counterfoil of the ballot paper
· Whether candidates could still run for elections if convicted but had an appeal pending (The application for judicial review was struck out after the attorney-general, representing the EC, argued that all challenges pertaining to elections had to be made in form of an election petition according to Article 118 of the Federal Constitution)

Insincere challenge

On March 21, Abdul Rashid claimed that his critics did not furnish proof that the EC was not transparent in its actions and challenged them to take him and the commission to court.

At a press conference in Kuala Lumpur this morning, Bersih committee member and PKR vice-president Sivarasa Rasiah said the challenge was not sincere as Abdul Rashid was well aware that the public could not take the EC to court.

Sivarasa said the government with the consent of the EC had on June 2002, amended the Election Act 1954 making the electoral roll “final and binding” - effectively removing all legal avenues to challenge the credibility of the roll.

“When he was in part responsible for immunising the electoral roll from any challenge in an election petition, why is Abdul Rashid asking his critics to take him to court?” asked Sivarasa, a practising lawyer.

Quoting the judgement in the Likas by-election petition in 2001, Sivarasa said the Election Court then had found the electoral roll to be tainted but the EC-initiated legal amendments in 2002 no longer allowed proper public scrutiny of the roll.