Phantom voters,'pendatang haram' with blue Mycards and fraud will be rampant in 13th GE...

Ng Yuen Chan has occupied the same room for 20 years, so the retiree was surprised to learn recently that he had two Indian Malaysian women as roommates.

They were phantom voters registered at his home in Seremban, capital of Negri Sembilan, a key political battleground state and one of many such cases fueling fear of possible fraud in coming elections in the multi-racial country.

"The government should take action. These people don't exist here," Ng said angrily.

Opposition election workers and independent vote-reform advocates say a rash of irregularities could tip the balance in what may be a tight contest between the long-ruling BN coalition and an upstart opposition. Campaigners warn that if the government does not address the issue, they could take to the streets again as they did in a protest by tens of thousands last year that was crushed by police.

"I certainly think the playing field is still very skewed. It could cost the opposition the win," said Ambiga Sreenivasan (right), co-chair of electoral reform group Bersih 2.0.

"If they (the government) don't commit to reform before the... election, there will be a Bersih 3.0 rally."

Bersih 2.0 and other critics allege the coalition, despite promising reform, is illegally registering non-resident supporters in shaky constituencies or those held by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's three-party alliance.

In one case near Ng's house, more than 60 people were registered living in two apartment blocks that do not even exist, say opposition activists who have been scouring quarterly voter rolls compiled by the Election Commission.

The government denies a fraud campaign, and the commission says it is cleaning voter rolls. Late last year it purged more than 40,000 names that could not be accounted for, but the revelation only added to fears of widespread irregularities.

The commission also recently fired hundreds of staff after it was found they were responsible for registering voters twice, adding non-citizens, and other "negligence," government-controlled media reported.
 
Electoral roll a fundamental issue

Anthony Loke (right), an opposition parliamentarian representing Ng's district, said a report by a government-appointed organisation found some 80,000 people were registered in just over 300 addresses, among other discrepancies.

"The most fundamental issue is the electoral roll. It must be cleaned up," he said. "If they don't clean up the roll, other changes are not as significant."

Bersih 2.0 and opposition parties led a rally in Kuala Lumpur last July to demand clean elections - ‘Bersih’ means clean - and were met by tear gas and water cannon. Some 1,600 people were arrested.

The rally gave voice to widespread suspicions documented in many cases over the years that the ruling coalition has routinely used fraud, vote-buying and a stranglehold on traditional media to stay in power.
 
Stung by condemnation over the rally crackdown, Prime Minister Najib Razak set up a bi-partisan parliamentary panel in October to study possible reforms. A final report is due on Monday.

An interim report suggested measures including introducing indelible ink to prevent multiple voting, which the Election Commission has pledged to do.

"The main (recommendations) are all accepted and done already. Now we are busy doing the preparations," commission deputy chairperson Wan Ahmad Wan Omar told AFP.

But critics accuse the government of dragging its feet on far-reaching reform and ignoring calls to halt abuses like alleged vote-buying and preventing fair access to media.
 
New report on irregularities

Concern has sharpened recently amid heavy speculation that the polls - due by next April - could be called within months.

"You can't expect BN to implement (all the) reforms for a system that has benefitted them for years," said Loke, also a member of the parliamentary reform panel. 

In 2008, Anwar's three-party opposition alliance snatched away the BN's long-held two-thirds parliamentary majority and now holds four of Malaysia's 13 states, its highest ever number.

Bersih 2.0 has calculated the BN coalition won a parliamentary majority by only 27,000 votes. 


Leading polling firm Merdeka Centre, along with another institute that monitors the electoral process, will launch a new report on such irregularities on Friday.

Ibrahim Suffian (left), head of the centre, said its research has found an "abnormal increase of voters" in closely contested constituencies.

"So it would affect the outcome of the election" in some areas, he said.-malaysiakini

Nazri - no need to worry, no foreigners,or dubious voters coz voters must produce Mycard to vote...

There is no need to worry over the possibility of foreigners being registered as voters or cases of dubious voters, as they must produce their MyKad to register or vote.

"No foreign citizen can be registered as a voter, as the identity card (MyKad) must be used in the registration process.

"As for dubious voters, they still need to produce an IC to vote. If they cannot do so, they cannot vote," Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Aziz ( right) told the Dewan Rakyat today.

He said this when winding up for the PM's Department in the debate on the royal address.
As such, Nazri said, foreigners or voters of dubious origin would not be able to vote as by right none of them would be able to produce a MyKad.

Nazri explained that this was in accordance to Article 119 of the constitution, which allows only Malaysians to vote. 

“There are 33 levels of checks via the the ALIS system, which links agencies to the National Registration Department, and the system will reject voter registrations from those who are not citizens,” argued the minister. 

He was responding to concerns raised by opposition MPs while debating the royal address.

Electoral system in ruling government's favour

Cases of foreigners allegedly registered as voters and of 42,000 dubious voters with incomplete information that the Election Commission itself admitted to have been opposition fodder to push for electoral reforms in a system they claim has been weighted to favour the ruling government.
 
Nazri also brushed aside the call by Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timor) for a special committee to ensure fair elections, saying that the parliamentary select committee (PSC) for electoral reform is already doing the job.

When Lim stood up to press the issue, arguing that the issue was the lack of transparency in the current system, not just the technicalities handled by the PSC, Nazri hit back at him. 

“This is like what a Year Six student would say... Not what I would expect from a veteran parliamentarian like you. 

“Why would you say something stupid like that? You were an MP when I was still in school,” sniped the minister. 

As Nazri continued his winding-up, more opposition MPs stood up to refer to issues concerning irregularities in the electoral system. 

Special meeting with EC proposed 

Saying that he did not have answers to the issues as they were  either new matters not raised during the debate or something that only the EC could answer, Nazri then proposed a special meeting to address those concerns. 

“Since all the MPs are here, I suggest that we meet with the EC in the coming weeks, maybe on the 16th of next month, and I shall be there myself, so that the commission can answer.
 
“If possible, we can give advance notice so they can come prepared with answers,” offered Nazri.

The opposition MPs agreed and said that they looked forward to the meeting.-malaysiakini

Nazri - Jangan bimbang isu pengundi meragukan...

 

Masyarakat tidak perlu bimbang dengan kemungkinan warga asing didaftarkan sebagai pengundi atau kes pengundi meragukan, kerana proses pendaftaran memerlukan MyKad ditunjukkan, Parlimen diberitahu.

Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz berkata, di hari pengundian pula, jika pengundi gagal memberikan kad pengenalan mereka tidak akan dibenarkan terlibat membuang undi.

Beliau berkata demikian ketika sesi penggulungan untuk Jabatan Perdana Menteri dalam perbahasan titah Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

Katanya, menurut Perkara 119 Perlembagaan Persekutuan yang hanya membenarkan rakyat Malaysia mengundi.

Terdapat 33 tahap semakan dalam sistem ALIS yang menghubungkan Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara dan sistem itu akan menolak pendaftaran daripada rakyat asing, kata Nazri menyentuh isu yang ditimbulkan anggota parlimen pembangkang.-malaysiakini
comments...

AngryBird - I do not know whether Nazri is bodoh, bangang or bahlul. Many foreigners in Sabah have acquired blue MYCARDS. How the hell they got this document? Don't pretend you are not aware of this, as your bloody stinking BN/UMNO parties are behind the issuance of blue Mycards. With Mycards, these foreigners have been registered as voters.

wira - Nazri. The point is anyone with a MyKad can vote if he is registered. UMNO is giving easy registration to hundreds of thousands of new MyKad owners just to ensure their survival at the detriment of the country. You are mischievous not to address to that point..

Kgen - Nazri is ignorant or playing stupid. There are lot's of foreigners with MyKad walking around like instant citizens.

JBGUY - He is such a nincompoop. Nazri should know by now that there are huge numbers of foreigners being given ICs on the premise that their new found citizenship would be forfeited if they don't vote for UMNO. The Electoral Roll is also filled with dead and phantom voters. An independent audit firm should be given the task of cleaning up the electoral rolls and they should be given adequate time to do so.

Lt Cdr.B.RMK - Well said GovPayMaster! Nazri is teaching us how to suck eggs. An estimated number of more than 3 million foreigners, especially, Indons are already bumiputras of this country, of course with blue ICs. And yet he got the audacity to say foreigners can't vote. He must the first one to be 'guillotined.'

cheers.