Ambiga: We never mentioned 40,000 Bangladeshis

Outgoing Bersih chief S Ambiga says they merely highlighted that a high number of East Malaysians were being ferried to the peninsula before the general election.

PETALING JAYA: Bersih did not mention 40,000 Bangladeshis voted in the general election, said Bersih chairman S Ambiga.

Ambiga told FMT that Bersih only highlighted  the high number of East Malaysians being brought in to the peninsula, days before the general election.

“Tengku Adnan (Tengku Mansor) himself had admitted that the East Malaysians were ferried by Barisan Nasional-friendly organisations to vote.

“But I don’t remember mentioning 40,000 Bangladeshis,” she said.

Yesterday, Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim denied making claims that there were 40,000 Bangladeshi phantom voters in the 13th general election, saying that the statement was spun by pro-Umno bloggers.

“We have checked our statements and have never made such claims,” he said, during a media conference at the Parliament’s lobby.

In a blog post on May 2, Anwar mentioned he had documentary evidence that a group of foreign nationals were being transported from the airports to various points in the peninsula, using transport provided by government agencies as well as chartered bus operators.

Tengku Adnan, who is Umno secretary-general, admitted that people were being ferried from East Malaysia but dismissed claims that they were dubious voters.

Touching on dubious voters, Ambiga said the royal commission proceedings in Sabah had proved their allegations all along that there were foreigners registered in the national electoral roll.

She also said there many other instances of irregularities during the general election, which was left unanswered by the Elections Commission and the government.

“But the government is not responding to that. Instead, they keep harping on the 40,000 Bangladeshis.
“To me, this is just a smokescreen. They are not talking about the foreigners being registered in our electoral roll,” she said.