Can EC defeat Pakatan?

All dirty tricks even before May 5 is a clear indication that more hanky-panky is in store and will be executed on polling day itself.

COMMENT

Finally it has come down to this: the moment of truth on May 5, 2013. The final battle will be between the rakyat of Malaysia and Barisan Nasional’s army of phantoms/aliens and the Election Commission’s (EC) shenanigans and hanky-panky.

Aliens have taken precedence since January this year as there has been a very massive influx of Bangladeshi nationals into Kuala Lumpur. And their numbers have been steadily increasing since early April.

One can only surmise that the 13th general election was delayed to enable these Bangladeshis to be brought in for voting. Pictures have emerged in Facebook of long queues of Bangladeshis standing in line at the Malaysian airports. Definitely something sinister is afoot.

According to this columnist’s PAS friends, these Bangladeshis are now being sent all over Peninsular Malaysia. The fact that the EC has warned the rakyat not to judge anyone’s nationality by appearance reveals a lot.

Ahmad Zamri Asa’ad Khuzaimi, a young PAS lawyer who is contesting the parliamentary seat of Titiwangsa in Kuala Lumpur, has informed this columnist that an airline staff had mentioned to him that there are special flights to bring aliens from Sabah to Selangor for voting purposes.

Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim (PKR), who is contesting the parliamentary seat of Bandar Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur, has also revealed that he has received information pertaining to the large numbers of Bangladeshis, Indonesians and Myanmars being brought in to vote in Selangor.

The flights that brought in these aliens do not land in KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport) or low-cost carrier terminal (LCCT) but in secret locations.

Bersih activist and well-known blogger, Hishamuddin Rais, also revealed that besides bringing in aliens, cheating could also take place inside the polling centres because of the new seating arrangement.

Under this new arrangement, the polling agents will only see the backs of the voters when the latter cast their ballot papers.

Bigger problem

Therefore if the voters decide to do something fishy, the polling agents would not be able to detect it because the voters are blocking the polling agents’ view of the ballot boxes. This latest seating arrangement fixed by the EC certainly puts the polling agents at a disadvantage.

On the other hand, the EC workers can view the ballot boxes clearly and they are also able to communicate with the voters via eye-contact if necessary.

In addition, the polling agents are not allowed to cross out the names of the voters who come in to vote as was done in previous elections. Thus voters could very well vote once in the morning and later in the evening.

Another problem that could occur, said Hishamuddin, is that the indelible ink will be marked on the finger before voting when it should be done only after voting as is practised in other countries that use this indelible ink method because the ballot papers may be smudged.

However, a bigger problem is that the indelible ink has been known to fade, hence the possibility of voting twice as mentioned above.

An army man’s wife in Kluang, Johor, has reported to PAS’ Khairul Faizi (contesting the state seat of Mahkota) and DAP’s Liew Chin Tong (contesting the parliamentary seat of Kluang) that the indelible ink on her finger had faded off on the same day after voting after she performed household chores which included cooking and washing clothes.

This woman expressed shock because she had read in the mainstream papers that the ink was supposed to last for five days.

She then made a police report as she feared vote-manipulation.

Dirty tricks

Hishamuddin also expressed shock and surprise that spouses of police and armed forces personnel who are not on duty are also participating in advance voting when they should be ordinary voters because they are civilians.

Another indelible ink case occurred in the parliamentary seat of Batu where a voter involved in advance voting revealed to PKR’s Tian Chua (who is defending his Batu seat) that the indelible ink could be washed off by instant hand sanitiser.

Tian Chua said this discovery is indeed worrying because it reveals that the indelible ink cannot prevent multiple voting, and thus the electoral process is flawed and open to abuse. He urged the police to act immediately.

In addition, there are also people who will be given a waiver in the use of indelible ink if they fill in a special form provided by the EC.

“All these shenanigans are done just to help BN maintain its grip on Putrajaya,” said Hishamuddin.

PAS vice-president, Salahuddin Ayub, who is contesting in Johor, highlighted the case of ballot papers being issued twice to seven postal voters in Temerloh, Pahang, who are EC workers.

All these dirty tricks even before May 5 is a clear indication that more hanky-panky is in store and will be executed on polling day itself.

At the end of the day, we citizens can only hope and pray for a new and better Malaysia for all after the ballots are counted on May 5.

“Everyone must play their role in making a full voter turnout,” said DAP’s Charles Santiago who is defending his Klang parliamentary seat.

May 5 is also the first day of summer in the Chinese metaphysics calendar. This is summer in the astrological sense and is the first day of the Fire Snake month in this Water Snake year.

It will be interesting to see what this double-snake formation will bring. All will be revealed in the early hours of May 6. The moment of truth is at hand!

Selena Tay is a DAP member and a FMT columnist.