Irregularities still in Sabah electoral roll after RCI advice, says Bersih

Electoral reforms group Bersih 2.0 says that irregularities are still found in the Sabah electoral roll, despite the government setting up a committee to tackle issues that were highlighted by the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on immigrants in Sabah. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Najjua Zulkefli, July 1, 2015.

Electoral reforms group Bersih 2.0 today said that irregularities are still found in the Sabah electoral roll, despite the government setting up a committee to tackle issues that were highlighted by the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on immigrants in Sabah.

Despite RCI's findings that hundreds of thousands of foreigners were issued identification cards in Sabah without following due procedure, Bersih said that not much has been done, and questioned the actions taken by the committee which was supposed to tackle the issues highlighted in the RCI.

"We want to stress that investigation and action based on the report must be conducted immediately," a statement issued by the watchdog's steering committee said today.

It cited, as an example, the case of a woman who was registered twice in the electoral roll in Sandakan, with the same address, but with different tail end IC numbers.

Bersih is currently conducting a nationwide electoral roll study with the Malaysian Electoral Roll Analysis Project (Merap).

"Bersih questions what are the conclusions from setting up the committee that was supposedly formed to take action based on the report," it said.

The RCI report was completed in 2013 and released to the public last year.

- TMI