Fraud? It's not true, Khairy tells The Economist

Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin says reports of fraud or irregularities in the 13th general election in the international media are not true and there has not been "a shred of evidence" to substantiate this.

In an open letter to international affairs weeklyThe Economist, Khairy said such allegations have been proven to be false.

"Allegations that foreign nationals were paid as 'phantom voters' have proved to be false, with not even one recorded case on polling day," he said.

Instead, Khairy said, the allegations were made because of PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim's desire for the country's top job.

"Anwar refuses to accept the election result because of his own personal, lifelong ambition to become prime minister.

"The deputy president of his own party as well as his legislative partners have called on him to accept the result. They have even sworn in the heads of state governments where they won," Khairy said.

He said independent NGOs that observed the electoral process on May 5 had called on all parties to accept the results and the opposition should file election petitions and follow due process if it has evidence of fraud.

The second-term Rembau MP echoed Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's call for national reconciliation and gave his assurance that Najib was committed to democracy.

"He will be prioritising key reforms promised prior to the election to ensure Malaysia becomes a developed nation by 2020, with a mature and liberal democracy," Khairy said.

'Tawdry victory'
In a scathing piece on Malaysia's recently concluded general election, titled "Tawdry victory" on May 11,The Economist called Najib "unwise" for describing the result as a "Chinese tsunami".

It said that despite the BN professing to promote a multi-ethnic Malaysia, Umno ran a "nasty and divisive campaign" in the rural heartland, leaving the country more divided along ethnic and lines and between the urban and rural divide.

It also noted incidents of alleged phantom voters and widespread vote-buying.

In another piece on the same day entitled "A dangerous result",The Economist said that with an obsequious mainstream media, it was "remarkable that so many BN campaigners still felt the need to resort to blatant vote-buying".

Regardless of the allegations of fraud being true or otherwise, The Economist added, the BN already had "huge inbuilt advantages" as a result of gerrymandering.