The June rush to register members before PKR polls

In the previous article on the PKR election system, Malaysiakinidetailed how the PKR’s membership had spiked in June ahead of the party elections that will take place between this Saturday and Oct 28.

PKR elections committee deputy chairperson Adzman Hedra, in explaining the sudden membership surge, had told Malaysiakinithat this reflected how enamoured people were by the party after the May 9 elections.

However, upon closer inspection, PKR divisions (or “cabang”) with a high number of new recruits and their dates of registrations suggest that some divisions did not quite experience organic growth.

Such divisions, it would appear, saw sudden growth spikes rather than linear growth. A likely explanation is that these new members were recruited with the party elections in mind.

In order to qualify to vote during the party elections, a PKR member must be registered on or prior to June 26 according to PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution’s brief on the party elections in July.

Malaysiakini has since sighted some party membership records with the sole purpose of examining PKR divisions which experienced high growth figures in a short period of time and their possible impact on the party elections.

To do this, Malaysiakini sampled six divisions which were among the largest in their respective states. It was initially established that there will usually be a spike in new sign-ups a day or two prior, on or a day after the cut-off date.

The growth rates for five out of six divisions studied are illustrated in the chart below.

The smallest of the five divisions - Lembah Pantai - experienced linear growth following the May 9 general election but ramped up recruitment just before the cut-off date.

Lembah Pantai PKR’s membership grew by 22 percent between May 1 and June 27. This division will see a straight fight between Mohd Zaman Mohd Tasi and the Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil for the division's leadership.

It was observed that the Kota Marudu, Hulu Selangor and Teluk Kemang divisions experienced linear growth before a surge in new registrations over the last 10 days before the cut-off date.

From the above chart, it can to be observed that the membership growth of Pensiangan division, in rural southern Sabah, was anomalous. There were no significant recruitment numbers until the period of June 21 to 27 which saw 7,698 new recruits registered.

This means that as of June 27, Pensiangan PKR’s membership grew by 321 percent after May 31.

The contest for Pensiangan PKR division leadership will see Sabah PKR Youth chief Raymond Ahuar defending his seat against three others.

The Julau 'miracle'

However, of the six PKR divisions observed, the one that stands out appears to be Julau, in rural central Sarawak. As of June 26, this division had 603 members. Between May 9 and June 26, its membership only increased by 40 people.

However, membership records showed that the membership figures for this division recorded 12,946 new members on June 27. This marks a phenomenal 2,147 percent increase overnight.

Several division leaders told Malaysiakini that it would take at least three minutes for them to key in the data for each new recruit, which means the feat would require a sizeable team to accomplish.

The chart below illustrates the spike in Julau PKR’s membership numbers juxtaposed against the other five divisions for scale.

When contacted, incumbent Julau PKR division chief Semana Sawang said the 12,946 members were not registered by party staff and that the party's online registration system allowed anyone to submit a membership application.

At the time of writing, the online registration system does not appear to be functional and therefore Malaysiakini is unable to independently verify this claim.

“Anyone could have registered those new members. Even you,” said Semana. “The headquarters will call each new member within two weeks as part of the verification process but in Julau, a large number of us do not have access to phone networks.”

Semana said he knew some of those who were registered on June 27 and had interviewed them on the process.

“None of them knew they were registered. Some didn’t mind, others didn’t care and some didn’t want to be members,” he said.

Will they qualify to vote?

What was even more peculiar, said Semana, was that Julau had only about 25,000 voters yet there were 12,946 signups on that one day alone which he said was highly suspicious.

“This means that some of those who are still BN party members are now our party members,” he said.

He said he has lodged official complaints with the PKR headquarters but there has been no response so far. He also believes that those registered on June 27 will qualify to vote in the upcoming party elections although he has not sighted any official document to this effect.

Semana, who has been division chief for two terms since 2010, is being challenged by Larry Sng Wei Shien who is the Julau MP. Sng is a new PKR member who joined on May 11. Sng will also be vying for a seat on the PKR central leadership council (MPP).

Although party rules stipulate that a candidate standing for internal elections must be a member for at least 12 months, this requirement can be waived with written permission from the PKR president. Adzman, the elections committee deputy head, told Malaysiakini that of the 14,000 eligible candidates, 20 percent received such waivers.

Sng was formerly the head of the short-lived Sarawak Workers Party and prior to that a special assistant to then Sarawak chief minister Taib Mahmud. During the May 9 elections, he stood as an independent candidate for Julauand defeated BN’s Joseph Salang Gandum in a straight fight.

Repeated attempts to reach Saifuddin, the PKR secretary-general, and Sarawak PKR chief Baru Bian for comments since Wednesday have been unsuccessful. It is understood that Baru, the works minister, is currently abroad on official duties.

PKR's internal elections will begin this Saturday. It will take place every weekend until Oct 28. - Mkini