Caught on video - officials luring student voters

Malacca DAP has obtained video evidence that purportedly shows a son of an Umno leader persuading university students to change their addresses so as to ensure BN wins a marginal constituency in the upcoming election.

Ayer Keroh assemblyperson Khoo Poay Tiong (left) claimed he received adiscreetly recorded video clipshowing the involvement of the National Registration Department (NRD) and the Election Commission (EC) officials in the registration of voters.

"I received a compact disc recording which is divided into three segments and each lasting five minutes, depicting students from Multimedia University Malaysia (MMU) and Universiti Teknologi Mara and Universiti Technical Malaysia, Malacca.

"The NRD and EC officials gathered the students of those institutions in a hall and advised them to change their addresses and register themselves within the Bukit Katil parliamentary constituency, which is held by BN, and for them to possibly vote for BN," he said.

The Bukit Katil parliamentary seat is held by Md Sirat Abu, and the state seat in this constituency includes Ayer Keroh where MMU is located.

Malacca has five parliamentary seats and only of them, Kota Melaka, is held by the opposition - DAP's Sim Tong Him.

The Bukit Katil constituency is speculated to be in danger of falling to the opposition as it is a semi-urban area.

In the 2008 general election, Umno's Md Sirat Abu garnered 30,975 votes against PKR's Khalid Jaafar's 29,217 to win by 1,758 votes.

There are four state seats under Bukit Katil - two of which were won by DAP (Bachang and Ayer Keroh), while the other two are held by Umno (Bukit Baru and Ayer Molek).

Address change a temporary measure

Khoo claimed the son of the Malacca Umno leader was the spokesperson for the officials, and that he promised the students that the government will absorb the cost of changing their addresses.

"I was also informed that there are certain quarters willing to pay the students' rental fees until the election is held," Khoo said at a press conference in his service centre in Ayer Keroh.

"In the clip, there are racial elements involved. The person said they should not let the Chinese in DAP capture another seat.

"The person also claimed that Kota Melaka was now with the DAP and should not be allowed to expand further by winning another seat," added Khoo.

In the six-minute video clip, the students were told that they could change the address back to their original address after the general election.

“They can use (the address) of a rented house, or whichever (address). We will bear all the cost. After the general election, (you) can change it back on your IC,” said an unidentified man.

'Dirty tactic'

When asked by another person whether this will have significant impact in the constituency, the unidentified man said the BN candidate won with a slim majority in the last general election against a DAP opponent.

“If PAS or PKR win the seat, it doesn’t matter. But if it falls into the hand of other races, very hard lah. They already hold (Kota) Melaka, we can’t let them win here too."

Asked how many of them have done so, he said: “There are many more who have not registered. For example, if you have friends who stay in Malacca, you can use their addresses in Malacca.

“It’s a temporary measure. The government will pay for it,” he stressed.

Khoo said this was truly a dirty tactic in roping in NRD officials to help in the change of addresses.

"Initially, we heard rumours that such things were going on but now we have evidence in Facebook and YouTube," lamented the state representative.

Khoo said he will lodge a report as well as hand over a copy of the video recording to the police.

VIDEO l 6 mins