URGENT CALL TO CLEAN UP ELECTORAL ROLL

CHECKING......File photo of people checking their status at a polling booth in Kuching in last year’s Sarawak state elections.

By : AMIN ISKANDAR

KUALA LUMPUR : With 13 million registered voters to date, the Election Commission (EC) now faces increasing pressure to clean up the electoral roll and conduct separate polls for areas under both Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Rakyat (PR).

The PR-led Selangor government has openly declared it will not hold state elections when the federal BN calls them unless the EC is able to show the gazetted electoral roll to be used in GE13 has been cleared of dubious entries.

In its latest electoral statistics gazetted last August 16 made available to The Malaysian Insider, the EC recorded the number of registered voters as 13,052,374 people, out of whom 12,778,127 fall into the category of ordinary voters while 274,247 are recorded as absent voters. The latter group encompasses the armed forces, the police and overseas voters.

Selangor recorded the largest number of overseas voters, currently standing at 579 people, while the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur has the highest number of absent voters with 40,543 people. This is followed by Perak with 38,367 voters and Johor a distant third with 25,058 voters.

Kuala Lumpur FT also has the highest number of absent voters from within the ranks of the armed forces, totalling 24,979 people, while Selangor has the largest number of absent voters from within the police force, with 16,525 people.

The electoral law provides for absent voters to cast their ballots through the post even if the person is stationed within the voting constituency. This lack of transparency in the voting process has led to various allegations of gerrymandering and tampering with the ballot papers.

DAP Youth Chief, Anthony Loke has urged the EC to speed up cleaning its voter registry.

In the last general election in 2008, the ruling BN coalition succeeded in grabbing only one out of 11 parliamentary seats in the Kuala Lumpur FT, namely Setiawangsa. The DAP won five, PKR scored four and PAS took the remaining one leading to the most successful partnership among the three opposition parties in the last decade.

DAP Youth chief Anthony Loke has urged the EC to speed up cleaning its voter registry, saying the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on electoral reform had stated that it would only take four months to do so.

“It has been four months since the report was out but we are still receiving complaints, that’s why we want the EC to speed up the cleaning process.

“We urge the EC to show commitment in this cleaning process, and will continue to press them to update the data or explain this issue,” said Loke, who is both a federal and state lawmaker in Negri Sembilan.

He said cleaning the electoral roll was still being carried out and the Malaysian Microelectronic System Institute (MIMOS) had found dubious voter names in the roll.

“In the parliamentary report, MIMOS found there were 324 addresses registered with more than 100 voters, and 938 addresses with more than 51 to 100 voters.

“The overall voters were more than 100,000,” he said.

However, the deputy chairman of the EC, Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar, has made it known that he disagrees with Selangor’s suggestion of separate poll dates for the state election.

“This should not happen. We must think of the interest of all parties and not just political interest,” he said in broadcast programme “Hello Malaysia” shown live earlier this week on Bernama TV.

The one-hour interview was titled “Isu Bubar DUN: Implikasi SPR (Dissolving state assemblies: The implication for the EC)”, hosted by Sherkawi Jirim.

Wan Ahmad also argued that the cost of conducting elections would balloon substantially should there be separate elections for state and federal seats.

He pointed out that general elections cost about RM400 million while conducting a separate state election for Selangor alone would consume some RM50 million.

The 13th general election, which must be called by next April, is said to be the closest race for power between the mammoth and undefeated BN coalition and the fledgling PR bloc since 1969 when the opposition made landmark wins but which was followed by the May 13 racial bloodbath, marking the darkest chapter in the country’s history since independence in 1957.

The BN was denied its customary two-thirds hold on Parliament by the DAP-PKR-PAS parties which swept an unprecedented 81 out of 222 seats in the lawmaking house besides ceding four key states — Selangor, Penang, Kedah and Perak.

The BN managed to regain Perak subsequently after three state PR lawmakers declared themselves independents and swore allegiance to the grand old coalition. (TMI)

TERJEMAHAN

KUALA LUMPUR : Jumlah pengundi bagi pilihan raya umum (PRU) ke 13 yang diwartakan oleh Suruhan Jaya Pilihan Raya (SPR) pada 16 Ogos 2012 adalah seramai 13,052,374 orang dan Selangor mencatatkan jumlah pengundi luar negara tertinggi iaitu seramai 579 orang.

Dalam statistik terkini SPR yang dikirimkan kepada The Malaysian Insider, jumlah pemilih biasa berjumlah 12,778,127 orang manakala jumlah pemilih tidak hadir yang merangkumi tentera, polis dan pengundi luar negara pula berjumlah 274,247 orang.

Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur mempunyai jumlah pemilih tidak hadir tentera paling tinggi seramai 24,979 orang manakala Selangor mempunyai jumlah pemilih tidak hadir polis tertinggi iaitu 16,525 orang.

Secara keseluruhannya, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur mempunyai jumlah pemilih tidak hadir (tentera, polis, luar negara) yang paling tinggi iaitu 40,543 orang, diikuti oleh Perak 38,367 orang dan Johor 25,058 orang.

Selangor baru-baru ini mengumumkan untuk tidak mengadakan pilihan raya negeri serantak dengan PRU.

Timbalan pengerusi SPR, Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar walaubagaimanapun tidak bersetuju dengan pengumuman kerajaan Selangor yang diperintah oleh PR itu.

“Ini tidak patut berlaku. Kita kena fikir kepentingan semua pihak bukan semata-mata kepentingan politik sahaja,” katanya dalam rancangan wawancara ‘Hello Malaysia’ oleh Bernama TV yang disiarkan secara langsung.

Wawancara selama sejam, yang bertajuk ‘Isu Bubar DUN: Implikasi SPR’, dikendalikan oleh Sherkawi Jirim.

Wan Ahmad berkata selain itu, anggaran jumlah kos untuk mengadakan pilihan raya umum adalah kira-kira RM400 juta manakala pilihan raya negeri secara berasingan di negeri Selangor sahaja akan menelan belanja sebanyak RM50 juta.

Ketua Pemuda DAP Anthony Loke sebelum ini menggesa Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya (SPR) untuk mempercepatkan proses pembersihan daftar pengundi.

Beliau berkata, Jawatankuasa Khas Parlimen (PSC) untuk pilihan raya bebas dan adil yang mengeluarkan laporan pada April lalu menyebut bahawa pembersihan daftar pengundi  memerlukan masa empat bulan untuk dilaksanakan.

“Sudah empat bulan laporan ini sudah dikeluarkan tapi kami masih menerima aduan, sebab itu kami mahu SPR mempercepatkan proses pembersihan tersebut.

“Kami menggesa SPR supaya ada kesungguhan dalam proses pembersihan ini, dan akan terus mendesak supaya mereka terus mengemaskini data atau menerangkan mengenai isu ini,” kata Loke.

Loke berkata pembersihan daftar pengundi masih lagi dilakukan dan Institut Sistem Mikroelektronik Malaysia (Mimos) mendapati terdapat “nama pengundi yang meragukan.

“Dalam laporan jawatankuasa parlimen, Mimos mendapati bahawa 324 alamat yang didaftarkan dengan melebihi 100 orang pengundi, dan 938 alamat melebihi 51 hingga 100 orang pengundi.

“Jumlah keseluruhan pengundi ini melebihi 100,000 orang,” katanya.

Pada pilihan raya 2008, Barisan Nasional (BN) hanya memenangi satu kerusi di Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur iaitu di kerusi parlimen Setiawangsa dan selebihnya dimenangi oleh Pakatan Rakyat (PR).

PRU ke 13 yang perlu diadakan selewat-lewatnya  sebelum April dianggap paling sengit dalam sejarah oleh kerana BN yang memerintah Malaysia semenjak 1957 dicabar hebat oleh PR yang terdiri daripada PKR, DAP dan PAS.

Dalam pilihan raya 2008, buat pertama kalinya penguasaan tradisi majoriti dua pertiga BN dinafikan oleh PR dan beberapa negeri BN seperti Kedah, Pulau Pinang, Selangor dan Perak jatuh ketangan PR.

Perak walaubagaimanapun kembali ketangan BN pada tahun 2009 apabila tiga ahli dewan undangan negeri (Adun) PR keluar dari gabungan tersebut dan menjadi Adun bebas menyokong BN.

The Malaysian Insider sebelum ini melaporkan kemungkinan pilihan raya mengejut diadakan pada November ini enam puluh hari selepas belanjawan dibentangkan oleh perdana menteri pada 28 September ini.