170,818 voters come from ‘unknown birthplace’

PAS Youth reveals more discrepancies in the Election Commission's electoral roll.

PETALING JAYA: Some 170,818 voters whose birth place is unknown have been registered as voters, PAS Youth claimed today.

Johor PAS Youth chief Suhaizan Kaiat revealed the voters were registered under country code “71” of the Election Commission’s second quarter draft roll. This means that their country of origin is unknown.

But Suhaizan pointed out that in the National Registration Department (NRD) list, “71” was not an official code.

As a result, there are doubts about the birthplace of the 170,818 voters who have been registered as eligible voters for the coming general election.

“Why is code 71 still being used when the EC itself has indicated there is a respective code for every country in the world?” asked Suhaizan.

He cited the case of Mismah, an Indonesian, whose status was upgraded from permanent resident to Malaysian citizen in four hours.

“Mismah’s code was supposed to be ’61′ to indicate she is from Indonesia. But instead, code ’71′ was used,” Suhaizan said in a statement.

The “Mismahgate”, as it came to be known in news reports, saw the EC come under heavy criticism.

Suhaizan also said the number of registered voters from unknown country of origin was higher in Pakatan Rakyat-held states (including Perak and the Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory), totalling some 97,923 or 57.32%.

“This number (170,818) is too suspicious. Is it a coincidence or is it planned?” he asked.

Suhaizan also said Chinese of the various denominations such Hokkein, Teochew, and Cantonese, were the highest number of voters – at 72,742 – whose country of origin is not known.

The Indians and others such as Pakistanis, Punjabis, Indian Muslims and Bangladeshis who were registered under code “71″ totalled some 29,605.

Indonesian voters whose country of origin is unknown came up to 7,468.

Suhaizan also said of the 170,818 voters, some 37.7% of them registered under code “71” were Muslims while 62.30% were non-Muslims.

He predicted that the number of voters whose birthplace is not known will rise in the EC’s third-quarter roll draft ,which he said will be used in the upcoming general election.

He hopes that the NRD director-general Jariah Mohd Said will act on the matter.