ELECTIONS at the Julau PKR division in Sarawak this Saturday must be postponed pending the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission investigation into the drastic hike in membership numbers, said several party leaders today.

These leaders told The Malaysian Insight that party elections in the division must be suspended as many questions remain over the new members who have been registered to vote in the division.

Candidate for the Wanita chief’s position Haniza Talha said allowing the division to vote would affect the party negatively.

“The registration of thousands of new members is doubtful. When did the party leadership approve these members?” she asked, adding that some of them were registered in the same address.

The issue of membership in Julau stirred a buzz in PKR, as in the 2010 party elections, the division had 401 members and only 66 voted.

In the 2014 party polls, the division had 635 members, with only 16 voting.

However, the division’s membership spiked from 603 on June 26 to 13,000 a day later.

PKR’s political bureau last night stated they found no irregularities in the eyebrow-raising registration of over 12,000 members in a day, even though the matter is still under investigation by MACC.

Other leaders were also supportive of the call to suspend elections in the controversial division.

“MACC has already visited PKR headquarters over this issue. This means there is solid reason for them to investigate this case. As such, elections at Julau must be suspended until the MACC probe is over,” said Hulu Selangor PKR Youth chief Saifuddin Shafi.

Party supreme council candidate Razlan Jalaluddin also agreed that polling in Julau must be suspended.

Another supreme council candidate, Syarul Ema, also known as Ratu Naga, also agreed to the suspension, saying that calling off elections in the division would not have any impact on the overall vote.

“We may as well call off elections in Julau because of this controversy. Two party members have also been arrested by MACC. Let’s sort out this mess first. Suspending elections in one division will not have any effect on the party,” she said.

In another development, vice-president candidate Chua Tian Chang urged party members to be calm and ensure the voting process ended without any problems.

“It’s true that we have problems in Julau, but for me, it’s important that we complete our election process.

“We need not be aggressive at this final stage of the polls. We are a family. Let’s finish it peacefully,” he said.

As part of MACC’s probe into the matter, two PKR staff, the head of membership registration in PKR headquarters, and a Julau service centre staff member, were picked up and detained for questioning. – November 8, 2018.