THE caretaker Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) state government has been faulted for election misconduct during the state polls in December last year, such as the move to elevate Gedong to a district and announce infrastructure projects in the area, two civil society groups said today.

The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih 2.0) and Rise of Social Efforts (ROSE) said these actions by then caretaker chief minister Abang Johari Openg were a misuse of government resources and assets by a caretaker government.

Abang Johari was the GPS candidate in Gedong and won the seat.

Bersih and ROSE, which released their monitoring report of the state elections today, said there were 60 reports related to election misconduct and irregularities.

The caretaker government has also been accused of misusing the Sarawak Public Communications Unit (Ukas), which is under the Chief Minister’s Office, to campaign for the four political parties in GPS.

Two other alleged misconduct that are liable to election offences by law include a statement made by PBB deputy president Awang Tengah Ali Hasan, when campaigning in Bau. He said there would be no allocation for the Opar constituency if the GPS candidate in Opar loses.

The other possible offence is Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s statement that development projects would be difficult to implement if the state and federal governments are from different sides of the political divide.

Bersih and ROSE noted that section 9 of the Election Offences Act states that undue influence from the caretaker government parties as well as the federal government is an offence.

Other misconduct recorded were by Gemong Batu, the independent candidate for Engkilili, as well as See Chee How of Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) who stood in Batu Lintang. They had treated voters to food and drinks in their respective campaigning.

Gemong is accused of “providing food supplies to voters” by PSB Batu Lintang candidate See Chee How was accused of organising a coffee session with young people where food and drinks were paid by him.

Bersih and ROSE stated the 60 reports on election misconduct and irregularities are “cases that could be observed and recorded by our observers and other volunteers”.

“This number does not reflect the total election offences found in the Sarawak elections as the areas monitored are limited and there may be unreported cases,” they added.

In addition to monitoring physical campaigning, they said they also had volunteers monitoring online campaigning on social media platforms.

On the ground, they could only send observers to five constituencies – Opar, Satok, Batu Kitang, Batu Kawah and Gedong.

Overall, the Sarawak elections showed that the Election Commission (EC) had gone “backwards” in its management of elections, the two groups said.

The elections were held from December 6 to 18.

“Apart from failing to offer alternative to voters who live outside of the state, particularly in West Malaysia and Sabah, the EC was late in announcing that registration for postal voting for overseas voters was open and it was only on November 16 that they had announced it while the registration date for postal voters was from November 8 to 24.

“In addition, the EC also failed to announce that Sarawak voters, who reside permanently in Singapore, Brunei, southern Thailand and Kalimantan were now eligible and can register as postal voters.”

This resulted in some overseas voters not having enough time to register themselves.

The EC’s delay in announcing the election Covid-19 SOP – just a day before nomination day – had resulted in parties and candidates not having enough time to prepare to comply with the rules.

And the SOP requiring persons under surveillance and persons under investigation to obtain permission from the district health officer to vote had violated article 119 (1) of the Federal Constitution, they added.

“Even Covid-19-positive voters are barred from voting and there is no alternative for them.”

Bersih and ROSE also said that for a state as large as Sarawak, the campaign period of 12 days was short, and want the minimum 21 days to be applied instead.

This would give candidates more time to meet voters and ensure that postal votes from abroad reach the Returning Officer’s office on polling day to be counted, they said. – February 23, 2022.