NURUL UPS THE ANTE: Not us but Najib, EC which robbed the good name of the Bangladeshis

PETALING JAYA - PKR leaders were cool to the comments of the Bangladesh High Commissioner that Bangladeshis did not vote in Malaysia's 13th general election, urging it to participate in the ongoing public inquiries so as to help get to the bottom of the matter.

PKR vice president Nurul Izzah upped the ante by asking the Bangladeshi mission help to join the public inquiries ongoing in Sabah, Penang and Selangor so as to get to truth of the matter.

"Penang and Selangor have already announced they are carrying out investigations, so let the investigations proceed. They (Bangladeshi High Commission) are free to make their statements but these are serious matters. We cannot allow a war of words to proceed but the investigations must be carried out," said Nurul Izzah, the MP for Lembah Pantai, told a press conference on Tuesday.

"Join the inquiries in Sabah, Penang and Selangor," she added, pointing out that it was pointless for the High Commissioner to refute without offering proof to back up his denial.

Najib & EC urged to "return the good name of the Bangladeshis"

In the run-up and during the May 5 general election, there had been a slew of police complaints lodged by members of the Malaysian public as well as Opposition politicians that Prime Minister Najib Razak's government was offering foreign workers from Indonesia, Philippines and Bangladesh residency in exchange for their voting for his Umno-BN coalition during the 13th general election.

Scores of plots were exposed and are still being exposed by wary citizen and civil society groups. In Sabah, such grousing has gone on for decades and only last year did the Najib administration finally allow a Royal Commission of Inquiry to begin so as to defuse public anger at how his government had allowed an influx of illegal immigrants into the state so as to cling to political power.

Sim Tze Tzin, the MP for Bayan Baru, called on the Najib government and Malaysia's controversial Election Commission to "return the good name of the Bangladeshis" by working harder to investigate the rampant allegations that these foreigners were involved in helping the Umno-BN cheat during the recent ballot.

"Generally Malaysians are very welcoming people. We accept the Bangladeshis as foreign workers and Bangladesh is our friend," said Sim, who was also at the press conference.

"This issue now is now the government of Malaysia's position. We want to give back the good name of the Bangladeshis and that's the what government of the day in Malaysia must do. But everything is shrouded in secrecy, it is not transparent. It is for the government of the day in Malaysia, the Election Commission to come out and tell the truth."

Malaysians don't normally lie either

High Commissioner to Malaysia A.K.M. Atiqur Rahman had a day ago said his office did not have any information on Bangladeshis voting in Malaysia's GE13.

“I want to clarify that it is absurd that 40,000 Bangladeshis had come to Malaysia within a week to vote. This was claimed by some in the print and online media. “Our office believes that Malaysian and Bangladeshi laws will not allow nor approve of it. The efforts to depict Bangladeshis as phantom voters may put innocent people under threat, as well as paint a negative image of our country,” he was reported as saying the BN-controlled mainstream media.

Atiqur had also expressed shock at images online depicting Malaysians manhandling and abusing so-called Bangladeshi phantom voters.

"We have been friends since the war of liberation of Bangladesh. Therefore, this baseless propaganda will not affect our relationship with Malaysia."

PKR leaders refuted the bigotry implications, saying it was not the foreigners who were their target when leveling and probing the phantom voter accusations.

"He has a right to his opinion but there has been a lot of proof that has been raised by the Malaysian public. Whatever he says is a bare statement without proof. If a lot of our people have been talking about it for a long time and I don't think your normal Malaysian would create news out of nothing and more over the integrity of an election is sacred to our nation," PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli.

"The hostilities should not be brought against the foreigners. It is the authorities that need to be pushed to conduct investigations most professionally," said Nurul.

Malaysia Chronicle