VOTERS from Kuala Lumpur, Malacca and as far as Sabah have been given addresses in Sekinchan, Selangor, enabling them to vote in the constituency, DAP said, alleging that it smacks of electoral fraud.  

Since the third quarter of 2016, DAP has objected to almost 3,000 voters registered in the draft supplementary electoral roll published by the Election Commission (EC) every three months.

DAP Sekinchan assemblyman Ng Suee Lim told The Malaysian Insight in some kampung with nine or 10 houses, there are hundreds of voters registered, including Chinese, Indians and Orang Asli.

“These are traditional Malay kampung with no history on non-Malays residing there,” he said.

Ng said the assertion by Umno Sungai Besar division chief Jamal Yunos that he has registered 7,000 new voters is true, but accused the red shirts leader of registering Chinese and Indians as residents in Malay reserve land.

Sungai Besar (parliamentary seat) covers two state seats – Sekinchan and Sg Panjang. Ng believes the majority of the new 7,000 voters went into Sg Panjang.

“Malay reserve land cannot be sold to non-Malays,” said Ng, the three-term Sekinchan DAP assemblyman. He won the last elections by 2,239 votes.

The kampung with the suspect voters include Kampung Tali Air 6 to 9, Kg Parit 7 Baruh, Kg Parit 7 Tali Air 7, Kg Parit 8 Tali Air 8 and Kg Parit 8 Sg Leman.

“If one or two (voters), it’s normal, because you’re moving from one place to another place. I can accept that.

“But with such a huge number, there’s something wrong somewhere, because this is planned. Very properly planned,” he said, adding that he will lodge a police report soon.

The Malaysian Insight visited some of the addresses on the Malay reserve land and the occupants said they didn’t recognise any name registered at those addresses.

They also expressed shock that Chinese and Indians were among those registered at Malay households.

“You can see many of them have IC numbers that show they are from outside Selangor,” Ng said of the voters registered on Malay reserve land. 

According to EC’s 2013 electoral data, Sekinchan’s 16,247 voters comprise 56% Chinese, 42% Malays and 2% Indians. The Malays are of Javanese and Banjar majority.

Jamal, meanwhile, accused Ng of playing “dirty politics” and challenged him to lodge a police report.

“Let him lodge the report,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

“We (Umno) identified what we call Umno DNA. We try to register the children of Umno members. We do not register Chinese or Indian voters. 

“In fact, I believe it’s Suee Lim himself who is using this tactic to blame Umno and say we are doing this. Why should I? In fact, I am trying to increase the percentage of Malay voters to help the Sungai Besar (parliamentary) seat. 

“There are many anak-anak Umno (children of party members) whom we are trying to register. We are trying to balance the (demographic) of non-Malay voters.

“It could be it is Suee Lim who is registering those voters. He’s playing very dirty politics to ensure that he wins the fourth time in Sekinchan,” he said.

In an earlier report, Jamal was reported as saying he had “discovered” 7,000 new voters in Sekinchan in the Barisan Nasional’s (BN) bid to wrest Selangor in the next elections. 

In addition to Sekinchan seat, Jamal has also said he wishes to help wrest back control of the Subang parliamentary constituency, which has been held by PKR’s Sivarasa Rasiah since 2008. 

BN’s control of Selangor slipped from 21 state seats in 2008 to 12 in 2013. All 12 seats are currently controlled by Umno.  

Electoral watchdog Bersih 2.0 has urged the EC to take immediate steps to prevent manipulation and fraud in the electoral roll, following Jama’s claim that Umno had been working to move voters to marginal constituencies.

Bersih 2.0 pointed to a parliamentary select committee and a royal commission of inquiry which found evidence that the electoral roll had been manipulated for the benefit of certain parties.

“However, instead of acting on the evidence, the EC has been assisting in hiding these wrongdoings by refusing to provide copies of draft electoral rolls with complete information and ignoring requests by groups and political parties to meet and discuss this issue,” it said.

“As long as the EC continues to fail in protecting the rakyat’s democratic right to fair elections, the only possible conclusion is they are working hand-in-glove with these unscrupulous parties to aid their efforts in deciding the outcome of the 14th general election before a single vote has been cast.”

In a statement in March, the EC said it would “depend 100%” on voter data, including residential addresses, from the National Registration Department (NRD).

The EC, however, stopped short of implementing automatic voter registration for Malaysians who reach the age of 21 years. – August 1, 2017.