Family of voters moved out of Lembah Pantai without their knowledge

A family of four were shocked to find out that their voting addresses had been changed from Lembah Pantai in KL to Sekinchan in Selangor, despite never having applied to do so.

They only realised the change after being alerted by PKR Lembah Pantai staff last month.

The family, who have requested anonymity to protect their identities, clarified that they had not applied to change their addresses, despite what was shown on the Election Commission (EC) website.

“We do not know what is happening.

“Nobody from the EC called us about this,” said one of them at a press conference organised by PKR Lembah Pantai Youth Chief Fahmi Fadzil today.

According to the EC website, all four voters’ applications to change their address from Lembah Pantai to Sekinchan, Sungai Besar were presently “being processed” due to objections filed against their application.

Sekinchan assemblyperson Ng Suee Lim previously objected to the addition of 1,600 “phantom voters” to his constituency, specifically to a Malay village located in Sungai Leman.

Members of the press were shown the electoral roll for Sungai Leman dated April 25 last year, which included the names of all four members of the family.

Fahmi said that unwittingly, the family had become the “phantom voters” mentioned by Ng.

Fahmi has lodged a police report about this issue on behalf of the family at the Lembah Pantai police station. Malaysiakini has sighted the report.

Paid to fill forms

The family believe the above discrepancy could have something to do with how they were previously approached by a man to fill up a form with their addresses and identification card numbers in order to receive financial aid.

Two family members alleged that they had been given RM20 after filling up the form and were promised more money if they followed the man’s instructions.

“He said that he would call us during election time to come to the Pudu bus station. A bus will come to pick us up, and then he will give us RM100,” one of them alleged.

However, they admitted to not knowing the full name, designation nor organisation the man represented.

They said they had failed to receive any financial aid since filling up the form.

Fahmi demanded an explanation from the EC and was concerned about the extent of such discrepancies in the electoral roll.  

"(How could they) not know they were being moved? Is there any hanky-panky or abuse of power here?

"We want an explanation from the EC.

“My worry is that between 2013 and 2018, 5,000 voters may have been moved out of Lembah Pantai. We are investigating if they applied for the change under their own will or if it was done like this, he said.

Malaysiakini has contacted EC chief Mohd Hashim Abdullah for comment. -Mkini