'Same voter or two different voters?'

Despite assurance from the Election Commission (EC) that voters having identical old identity card (IC) numbers are different individuals, political researcher Ong Kian Ming is still unconvinced and has furnished more suspicious cases.

Today he revealed four pairs of voters on his Twitter website, questioning whether each pair of voters is the same or different persons.

The first pair of voters have the same name, old IC number, date of birth and also voting locality. Their MyKad numbers only differ in the last four digits.

The address of the first, Muhammad Jalil Bin Marsat, is listed as ‘112 Blok 7' while the second Muhammad is just ‘112'.

The second pair of voters sharing the identical old IC number are registered at the same address in the Batu Caves state constituency and Gombak parliamentary constituency, by the names of Lakshima A/P M. Govindasamy and B Leelambigay A/O S Batumalay.

“Is it possible for two people born 30 years apart to share the same old IC number? Like this one: 7863005?” asked Ong over Twitter.

The third pair is registered in two different parliamentary seats in Sabah with the same name of Jamali Bin Ali.

“Born 10 years apart, same birthday, same name, same old IC. Two different people? You decide,” wrote Ong 

The last pair of voters are Ak Ahmad Shah Bin Pg Mohd Yussof and A.k Othman Shah Bin Pg Mohd Yussof.

Both have slightly different old IC numbers (H0680874 and H0680872) and MyKad numbers (660207125737 and 660207125745).

They are registered in the same parliamentary and state constituency, and even same locality. However their specific addresses are not listed in the EC online database. (see screen capture)

“Same person or two different people? You decide,” commented Ong.

However there is a possibility that they are twins.

Ong is the project director of Malaysian Electoral Roll Analysis Project (Merap), which has been providing statistics and evidence on electoral irregularities to back the demands of the electoral reform coalition Bersih.

Dozens of cases earlier highlighted

He had earlier highlighted dozens of cases involving two voterssharing the same seven-digit old IC numbers. 

He also claimed that there were cases of the old IC numbers being transferred from one person to another.

However, EC chairperson Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof laterexplained that some voters share the same seven-digit old IC numbers, but these occurrences will not affect the integrity of the electoral roll. 

He said it was due to a clerical error because when the seven-digit IC numbers were issued prior to the 1990s, the lack of computing technology had caused some people to share the same numbers.

Abdul Aziz gave an assurance that this will not pose a problem during the polls because all voters now identify themselves with their 12-digit MyKad numbers.

Moreover, he said the implementation of the indelible ink system will also stamp out concerns on multiple voting.