SORRY TO BE CAUTIOUS: Due to EC bias, PR only has 50% chance in every seat - Kee Kwong

It may look easy for Tan Kee Kwong, PKR's candidate for the Wangsa Maju parliamentary seat, to win in the coming general election.

He is widely expected to wrest the seat from former party colleague-turned-renegade Wee Choo Keong, who had attracted public odium for switching loyalties to become a supporter of Prime Minister Najib Razak's BN coalition.

But Kee Kwong is not expecting any easy ride or to benefit from Wee's "unpopularity" arising from the latter's controversial defection some three years ago.

"No way, in every seat across Malaysia, the Opposition only has 50% chance because of the electoral fraud that has been deliberately and systematically put in place. The only way BN can win is by playing dirty and with so much at stake, do you think they will hold back," Kee Kwong told Malaysia Chronicle.

When personalities won't count so much, but cheating will?

According to Kee Kwong, the 13th general election would be about more than just personalities. All the seats up for grabs including Wangsa Maju would be susceptible to massive and systemic electoral fraud, he said, with the Election Commission the key suspect in complicity with the BN.

"Two years ago, I was attending a BERSIH briefing in MBPJ, and someone in theaudience asked the chairman of the forum how independent was our Election Commission compared to Thailand and India. I can still remember the reply, which was that the Thai EC was very good and independent. Then in India, when the EC investigates, the politicians there shake and shiver. But in Malaysia, our EC just follows the BN government," said Kee Kwong.

Kee Kwong and Ambiga Sreenevasan, the co-chair of free-and-fair-polls movement BERSIH, are due to give a no-holds-barred briefing to the public on Sunday, March 24, at the Parti Keadilan Rakyat Operations Centre in Jalan Wangsa Metro, Section 2 Wangsa Maju (in front of the Usamah Bin Zaid Mosque) at 8.30pm. Admission is open to the public and free.

Nurul down by 11,000 even before any vote is cast?

The PKR leader went on to cite several examples of massive discrepancies around the country that have been discovered but "completely ignored" by the EC.

"Look at Lembah Pantai. When Umno's Shahrizat Jalil was the MP, there were only 180 postal votes. Now after the seat was won by Nurul Izzah (PKR party), there are suddenly 3,000 postal voters. Also suddenly, there is a transfer of 8,000 voters from Teresa Kok's Seputeh seat to Lembah Pantai,"Kee Kwong said.

"Teresa (DAP party) won by a majority of over 34,000 and BN knows it cannot shake her but they are desperate to push out Izzah. Someone must have come up with the bright idea to take 8,000 voters from Teresa and push it to Nurul. Now, Nurul is down by 11,000 votes even before any ballot has been cast!"

Nurul, who won Lembah Pantai with a majority of nearly 3,00 votes, is expected to face Umno Minister for the Federal Territories Raja Nong Chik.

She had polled 21,728 votes to beat Shahrizat's 18,833. Her victory came as a shock, reflecting the 'tsunami' that shook Malaysia's political system to the core in 2008.

The BN, which managed to retain control of the federal government, is expected to hold the next general election soon. Its 5-year mandate has ended and Parliament will automatically dissolve on April 28 even if Prime Minister Najib Razak refuses to do so.

Sabah and Selangor warning

Kee Kwong also warned against over-optimism in Sabah.

Due to public anger over an ongoing Royal Commission of Inquiry into illegal immigrants and the still unresolved intrusion of Lahad Datu by a group of Sulu gunmen, the BN is expected to lose its long-held control over the state government. But Kee Kwong was cautious, pointing to an "unnatural" rise in voter numbers.

Even Selangor, where Kee Kwong's own PKR party is heading the state government, was vulnerable to electoral fraud, he said.

"The unnatural rise in new voters in Sabah is enough to frighten anyone. In the 2008 general election, there were only 600,000. Now, there are 900,000. What type of numeric explosion is this?

"In Selangor, the EC reported some 400,000 new voter registrations. A check by the state government showed that 138,000 voters could not be verified. They complained to the EC and the EC said, it doesn't matter whether they can be verified or not. As long as they are on the roll, they are qualified to vote. You tell me, what type of statement is that."

Malaysia Chronicle