SG learning the wrong things from Malaysia

Malaysian officials and ruling party politicians with Mahathir as the standard bearer have often excused their malfeasance this way

EC chief Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said there was nothing wrong with people sponsoring flights to ferry voters from one part of the country to another to cast their ballots. Nor is there much the EC can do to stop it.

"If there are people who want to pay for others' travelling expenses, what's wrong?"

See also: Pakatan Rakyat for the background

Looks like in AIMgate, we have also found ours. What do you expect? We were once joined at the hip. Not as egregious as our government shameless colleagues up north but quite similar in spirit - It was an misunderstanding. Good luck LHL if you think we are so stupid to buy that! I am looking forward to more misunderstandings ever since you started the ball rolling with saying sorry.

Sure, PAP TC has done nothing wrong with AIM.

I have confidence in Malaysian voters as I do with ours. Theirs is a tougher and more perilous journey though.

Phantom voters? EC clears the air

Election Commission says sponsoring flights home for voters is not wrong

By Yong Yen Nie In Putrajaya, Federal Territories

MALAYSIA'S Election Commission (EC) has denied allegations of an influx of suspicious voters, after the discovery of a large number of chartered aeroplanes flying from east to west Malaysia ahead of elections tomorrow.

After weeks of allegations from the opposition of so-called phantom voters being flown into tightly contested areas, the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition said late on Thursday that "friends of the BN" had sponsored the flights.

EC chief Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said there was nothing wrong with people sponsoring flights to ferry voters from one part of the country to another to cast their ballots. Nor is there much the EC can do to stop it.

"If there are people who want to pay for others' travelling expenses, what's wrong?" Mr Abdul Aziz said at a press conference yesterday.

He said it was not unusual for thousands of people to be flying from Sabah and Sarawak to the peninsula to vote in their home constituencies.

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has alleged that more than 40,000 people - foreigners and Malaysians - from Sabah and Sarawak were being flown to several key states in peninsular Malaysia.

He said the flights were arranged by the Prime Minister's Office, which denied it. But BN secretary-general Tengku Adnan Mansor confirmed late on Thursday that some "friends of BN" had paid for flights to ferry Malaysians home to vote.

Bersih co-chairman Ambiga Sreenevasan said anybody involved in moving foreigners from Sabah and Sarawak to vote was committing "treason".

"This, in our view, is treason. There's no other way of putting it," she said at a press conference yesterday. "It's effectively stealing the election away from the rakyat."

Earlier this year, witnesses at a royal commission of inquiry in Sabah testified that thousands of foreigners - mostly Filipinos and Indonesians - were given Malaysian identity cards in exchange for votes in the 1990s during the time of prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Now, the same allegations are flying again.

Yesterday, Mr Charles Santiago, a lawmaker for the opposition Democratic Action Party, claimed that 571 people received identity cards under suspicious circumstances in Sabah, and are registered voters in his constituency in Klang, Selangor.

In Penang, Parti Keadilan Rakyat candidate Sim Tze Tzin for the Bayan Baru parliamentary seat said some home owners had received postal reminders to vote that were addressed to strangers, but sent to their home. Mr Sim's constituency has 19,000 new voters, the largest jump in Penang.

Mr Abdul Aziz stood his ground, saying: "We have done our checks - there are no phantom voters in the electoral roll."

yyennie@sph.com.sg


Update: May 5, 7:15pm

That shameless EC chief quoted as follows regarding the indelible ink.

High on the list of complaints was the Election Commission's (EC) use of indelible ink - thought to last for up five days - which voters found, could be easily washed away with just water and detergent.

The EC chairman Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof, coming under severe scrutiny by the public, said the ink was not as strong as what it is in other countries due to its 'halal' status. This, he said, was the reason that the ink did not stay on for long.

Pity that they do not get fired for their gross incompetence.


Update: May 6, 2:30pm

A good link to put together the evidence of Anwar's allegations of vote cheating by the Sarawak Report.