Increase in Kinabatangan voters raising eyebrows

Out of the total of 150,327 people in Kinabatangan, 117,689 are foreigners and 32,638 locals.

KOTA KINABALU: The unexpected high voter-to-population ratio in the Kinabatangan region on the east of Sabah has raised concerns that non-citizens have made it into the new electoral rolls.

Sabah DAP which sounded the alarm said the ratio had risen to as high as 68% and was abnormal.

MP for Kota Kinabalu Hiew King Cheu noted that a check on the electoral roll revealed that registered voters in Kinabatangan is around 22,000 from a total local population of 32,638, which which makes the population-to-voter ratio at 68%.

“This is very high when compared with many other areas in Sabah. The normal voters-to-population ratio is between 20% to 35% only.

“For example in Beaufort, it is 28,000 voters to 70,000 people (36%), for Penampang, it is 36,000 voters to 130,000 people (28%), and for Beluran it is 20,000 voters to 110,000 people (18%) only.

“It is not possible for a constituency to have 68% of the population registered as voters. Normally, many kampung folks and their young ones are not registered as voters and also many of them are working away from the area. This is even more obvious in Kinabatangan area.

“We cannot understand the situation in Kinabatangan. Maybe someone can explain the high voters- to-population ratio to us.”

Hiew said this while commenting on the revelation by Women, Family and Community Ministry secretary-general Noorul Ainur Mohd Nur that the immigrant population in the Kinabatangan district in 2010 had surpassed the local population.

Noorul had said that out of the total of 150,327 people in Kinabatangan, 117,689 were foreigners and 32,638 were locals.

Hiew said he was shocked to learn about this, adding that the figures revealed that something was not right somewhere, especially when compared with the registered number of voters on the electoral roll for the Kinabatangan parliament constituency.

“The secretary-general to the ministry and many other people may not have noticed this extraordinary situation. The only logical explanation is that foreigners have been registered as voters too,” he said.

He said the Election Commission (EC) must explain the oddity.