PETALING JAYA (June 4): PKR leaders said today the party was Bangladeshi-friendly, denying it was attacking the country’s nationals and that it was against phantom voters.
PKR was responding to the statement by the Bangladesh High Commissioner to Malaysia AKM Atiqur Rahman yesterday, refuting rumours of 40,000 Bangladeshi nationals deployed as phantom voters during Malaysia's 13th general election.
The High Commissioner labelled the allegations "impossible" and mere political manipulation by some quarters.
The party’s vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar said the High Commission was within its rights to deny the allegations but that should not halt investigations into incidents of electoral fraud and offences in the recently concluded 13th general election.
She said Selangor and Penang, which recently announced a state-level commission of inquiry to investigate incidents of fraud and other election offences, must continue and move forward with their investigations.
“In my opinion, the investigations must continue. We will look at the evidence provided. They (Bangladeshi High Commission) are free to make that statement but the process will have to continue.
“Of course the attacks and hostilities should not be brought against the foreigners… We are not asking the public to hate and so on but we must not let these incidents to be easily forgotten. You have to push and demand that EC and the relevant parties conduct investigations most professionally,” she told a press conference at PKR headquarters.
She also called on the High Commission to join the investigations and provide evidence during the state’s commission of inquiry.
PKR’s director of strategy Rafizi Ramli said the focus is not the nationality of the phantom voters but the reluctance of the authorities to take the necessary action.
“I don’t think your normal Malaysians would go and create news out of nothing and more importantly is that the integrity of an election is sacred and so important to our country.
"The way I look at it is that if there are any allegations about phantom voters whether they are Bangladeshis, Indonesians, Filipinos… what is more important are the authorities and the parties responsible for it which is the Election Commission (that) must take it so seriously and investigate fully," he said.
Rafizi also criticised the government for taking a stance of "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil and pretend everything is okay".
"As far as we are concerned, all the police reports lodged, photos and videos are proof. I don’t know if these are not proof, what else are proof?
"That is why in a transparent government, the moment you have evidence like these, then immediately the authorities must investigate," he said.
PKR’s deputy communications director Sim Tze Tzin said the government has the responsibility to give Bangladeshis back their good name in the country.
“I think generally Malaysians are very welcoming people. We accept that we need foreign labour. Bangladeshis are our friends.
“The issue now is the government’s position. We want to give back the good name of Bangladeshis in Malaysia and right now that is why the government is responsible to give back the good names of Bangladeshis. The issue right now is it's shrouded in secrecy and is not transparent,” he said.
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