Barisan sabotaging DAP’s campaign to bring outstation voters, says MP

Barisan Nasional candidate Datuk Mah Siew Keong allegedly did not stop BN workers from handing out food hampers to poor families at an event in Jalan Laksamana, Teluk Intan, yesterday. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Afif Abd Halim, May 29, 2014.‎Barisan Nasional (BN) has hacked the phone of the contact person behind DAP's campaign to ferry outstation voters to Teluk Intan on Saturday, says DAP election strategy chief Dr Ong Kian Ming.

Outstation voters, who contacted Chee Fu Yue for bus tickets to Teluk Intan at a subsidised rate, received text messages from Chee's phone urging them to vote Barisan Nasional candidate Datuk Mah Siew Keong.

Ong told a press conference at the party's operation centre in Teluk Intan that the message, written in Chinese, said: 

"Tomorrow is voting day.‎ I sincerely request all my respected citizens to vote for me, Mah Siew Keong. I promise I will work for the future of TI."

Ong said all of Chee's contacts received the same message, including DAP members.

"After we put up the contact number, it got hacked, and the person in charge received a lot of prank calls and SMSes, which prevented him from receiving calls from people who genuinely want to use the service," said Ong‎.

"Clearly, the hacking was undertaken by BN. Not only has it disrupted our service, but they used it against us by hijacking numbers to blast messages."

He said BN had done this to ensure a low turnout for Saturday's by-election, noting that DAP would lose should fewer than 65% voters cast their ballots.

DAP believes that its victory hinges on the young, pro-opposition constituents living outside Teluk Intan.

It began offering subsidised bus tickets‎ as part of its "Jom Balik Undi" campaign, after the historic low voter turnout rate in the Bukit Gelugor by-election on May 25, with only 56.04% recorded.

Ong said not enough Teluk Intan's outstation voters‎ would return to vote, adding that out of the 1,000 he contacted, only about 50% said they would vote.

"There are about 6,000 voters living outside Teluk Intan and we know of only 10% who are returning to vote. That is not enough for us to win.”

In the last general election, Teluk Intan registered a 80% voter turnout, the highest ever in the constituency.‎ There are more than 60,000 voters in Teluk Intan.

"Most people couldn't come back because they couldn't apply for leave, because it was costly and because they were busy," said Ong.

In the same press conference,‎ DAP's Pasir Bedamar assemblyman Terence Naidu said a police report had been lodged today against Mah and BN for allegedly bribing voters.

He said he and Bukit Gasing assemblyman Rajib Rishyakaran had witnessed BN handing out food hampers to poor families at an event in Jalan Laksamana, Teluk Intan, yesterday where Mah was present.

"Walking toward the pondok where the event was being held, we can clearly hear the emcee urging the people to vote for Mah‎.

"The emcee stopped only when Rajiv took out his phone to start recording the event," said Terence.

‎He said the individuals giving out the hampers wore 1Malaysia shirts, while BN flags decorated the area.

‎‎While he said Mah himself did not hand out any gifts to the people, the Gerakan president should be made responsible for the alleged vote-buying.

‎DAP's Teluk Intan campaign manager Tony Pua said Mah's actions ran contrary to his earlier stance on clean campaigning.

‎"This clearly contradicts Mah's early campaign pledge, in which he said the era where BN gives free gifts, lucky draws for the people is over.

"Clearly it is alive and obviously he is taking part," said the Petaling Jaya Utara MP.