Cops to summon Najib over alleged electoral offence

PD POLLS | Police are expected to call former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak soon over his Facebook post on the polling day of the Sungai Kandis by-election.

Putrajaya police chief Rosly Hasan told Malaysiakini that investigators were still working on the case with the cooperation of Malaysian Communications And Multimedia Commission (MCMC).

"Investigations are still ongoing. Everyone involved will be called (to have their statements recorded) soon.

"(At the moment) we are waiting for MCMC's confirmation on certain things," he said in a text message to Malaysiakini today.

Rosly was responding to a claim by Bersih steering committee that police had gone after them in investigating a report on Najib's alleged electoral offence.

The electoral watchdog had, in a press conference this morning, claimed that police had only called its chairperson Shahrul Aman Mohd Saari to record his witness statement, instead of calling Najib in.

Bersih executive director Yap Swee Seng said they want the authority to investigate the person accused of committing an offence instead of going after those who lodge the report.

"This is the problem. We want to ask the police: have they called Najib over his campaign on Facebook (on the polling day of Sungai Kandis by-election)?

"Have they recorded his statement? Whereas they have recorded a witness statement from the Bersih chairperson.

"We see this action as unfair when we want a clean electoral process and for the public to report on electoral offences," he told reporters at the organisation's office in Petaling Jaya.

Yap was referring to Bersih's report to the Election Commission (EC) against Najib for his Facebook post on August 4, where Najib called for voters to give their support to BN candidate Lokman Noor Adam.

The commission had subsequently lodged a police report against Najib.

Shahrul, whose statement was recorded by Putrajaya police in August, said such "intimidation" might scare off others from coming forward when they witness electoral offences.

He said this was the reason Bersih serves as a platform for the public to report wrongdoings during electoral processes, whereby Bersih forwards such reports to the authorities.

EC needs power to prosecute

Meanwhile, on a related topic, Shahrul told reporters that Bersih believes that EC should be given more power to tackle electoral offences, including the power to prosecute.

He said this was needed in order to effectively eradicate practices such as bribing voters during elections.

"We also want to give the EC more room... Besides the power to observe (an election), (they also should be given) power to prosecute in court.

"For the time being, the EC does not have the power. (They) leave it to police and the prosecutor's office.

"So these things need to be discussed, how to give EC more power," he said.

During the conference, Shahrul urged members of the public who witness any electoral offences during the Port Dickson by-election to contact (above) them.

He said they have registered 18 representatives with EC as observers during the by-election.

Among the responsibilities of Bersih representatives are to detect any attempt to buy votes, organise feasts and offer prize giveaways to attract voter support, abuse of government machinery during campaigning, excessive spending by parties and candidates, unfair action by civil servants, and phantom voters. - Mkini