'BOMB’ found near DAP service centre: Umno-BN slammed for DIRTIEST-EVER GE13

It looks like the "worst" has begun. With 2 days to go to Malaysia's May 5 general election, it looks like the violence and electoral fraud much feared by political observers and Opposition leaders have swung into full phase.

On Friday, explosions were heard when a police bomb squad detonated a box marked “bomb” found in a booth near the DAP service centre in Jinjang Utara.

“The box had a sign with the word ‘bomb’ on it. The bomb squad was dispatched to the area. We have not ascertained whether it is in fact a bomb,” Deputy IGP Khalid Abu Bakar was reported as telling journalists at the police headquarters in Bukit Aman.

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Opposition leaders have gone on red alert following the news although, according to The Star Online, the box is believed to contain firecrackers.

"It could be a hoax, we don't know. But what we are concerned about is the heightening of intimidation and political violence towards the Opposition and those who support them," PKR vice president Chua Jui Meng told Malaysia Chronicle.

"A good example is the pro-PR blooger Milo Suam who was remanded 2 days for a flimsy reason just because he posted on his blog a report that questioned if it was true Sabah police had been told to watch out for possible chaos in KK and Tawau. Why the need to arrest over such a posting, what message is Umno-BN trying to send out."

Pakatan election agents arrested

Jui Meng was not alone in his view. DAP candidate for the Serdang seat Ong Kian Ming has also slammed Prime Minister Najib Razak's Barisan Nasional coalition for "a cowardly act of intimidation" for arresting his election agent who had locked a ballot box containing advance balloting slips due to concern they might be tampered with.

The same had happened to PAS candidate for the Teluk Kemang parliamentary constituency Azahari Ismail, who was also charged under the same offense on May 2.

"The locking of the advance voting ballot boxes is a grey area and the final authority lies with the person in charge of the polling station in question (otherwise known as the Ketua Tempat Mengundi or KTM). Our reports indicate that the KTM in question in Taman Kajang Utama was very inexperienced and not aware of many of the elections related laws and procedures. This may very well have led to the confusion surrounding the locking of the ballot box," Kian Ming said in a statement.

"The fact that these two cases were processed so quickly, in mere days, just prior to the most important general elections in Malaysian history shows that this is part and parcel of the Barisan Nasional’s strategy to intimidate polling agents and observers."

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Malaysia Chronicle