Blackout photo taken by PAS agent, Seri Serdang rep confirms

EC deputy chairman Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar disputed the authenticity of the photograph on Friday. — file picPUCHONG, May 26 — PAS’s Seri Serdang assemblyman Noor Hanim Ismail has come forward to verify the photograph of a purported blackout at a polls counting room on May 5 currently circulating on the web, saying it had been taken by her agent and was not staged as claimed by the Election Commission (EC).

In a report on Malay daily Sinar Harian, the newly-elected PAS representative explained that her officer had snapped the photograph at the Saluran 3 counting room in SK Serdang at approximately 7.32pm that night.

She expressed surprise that EC deputy chairman Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar, who disputed the authenticity of the photograph on Friday, did not appear to know the official clothing of his own officials.

“I ask that Wan Ahmad apologise to all Malaysians for making the mistake of issuing a statement without proper verification and for taking lightly an issue that the people have raised,” she was quoted saying by the daily.

According to Noor Hanim, during the blackout, her officer had to help provide torchlights to the entire counting room to ensure the process could be carried out smoothly.

She denied claims that there had been reporters at the scene, which the photograph allegedly showed, noting that the location only permitted the presence of EC officials, agents of the candidate and the police officers in charge.

Sinar Harian said it is believed that that particular polling station had four voting streams, and counting for the first, second and fourth streams had been completed earlier that same evening.

There were no other photographs snapped in these polling streams save for the one in stream three due to the delayed process of counting, which only ended at 8pm, the paper wrote.

Wan Ahmad had alleged in media reports on Friday that the photograph of the blackout that has been circulating on the Internet was staged and taken even before Election 2013.

The EC number two reportedly said that this conclusion was made after thorough scrutiny of the photograph by him and his officers.

“They had staged the act even before the election to spread it on the Internet as a ploy to show that a blackout had purportedly occurred, whereas it was a lie.

“The photograph showed that EC staff were purportedly counting the ballot papers and had to use a auxiliary lamps whereas the staff were not wearing the EC uniform,” he was quoted as saying by national news agency Bernama.

According to Wan Ahmad, the most obvious proof was the presence of reporters and photographers at the counting area, which is not permitted.

“The Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and work procedure shown on the photograph were totally incorrect…they have forgotten, (they) want to cheat but do not understand the work procedure and were immature.

“In fact the tray used for placing the ballot papers on were also not the EC trays, the material and size were different…(there were) many things in the photograph that did not follow EC SOP,” he was quoted as saying.