KUALA LUMPUR, April 8 — Electoral reforms group Bersih 2.0 has asked the Election Commission (EC) to clarify if People’s Volunteer Corps (Rela) members qualify for postal voting, which has normally favoured the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) in past elections.
The group said there was concern that giving the postal vote to Rela — whose membership has increase nearly five-fold in the last three years — would allow the paramilitary civil volunteer force to help BN unfairly retain hotly-contested seats.
The Home Ministry revealed in Parliament earlier this week that from 2008 to 2010 there was a 477 per cent increase in Rela membership, which stood at 2,593,263 volunteers as of December 31, 2010.
Bersih 2.0 also urged the ministry to clarify reasons for its aggressive recruitment campaign, which netted 1,511,730 new members in 2010 alone.
This comes after Wilso Nyabong Ijang, political secretary to Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, openly urged Rela members to ensure victory for BN candidates in Baleh and Pelagus in the ongoing Sarawak state polls.
Ijang had told some 80 new recruits in Kapit, Sarawak last Saturday that they had to be loyal to the government and that loyalty meant supporting BN in the critical state election.
“This incident has confirmed suspicions by certain quarters that the aggressive recruitment of Rela members is a political move by the Barisan Nasional government in preparation for the upcoming general election,” Bersih 2.0 said in a statement today.
The EC has repeatedly assured opposition supporters that Rela members do not qualify for postal voting, most recently in November last year.
Pakatan Rakyat (PR), however, remains sceptical, pointing out that the frontline states of Selangor and Perak have the highest number of Rela personnel, along with Sabah. - Malaysian Insider
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