BN TO REGISTER INDONESIANS AS VOTERS?

By : FMT STAFF

BARISAN Nasional has given permanent-residency status to a large number of Indonesian workers as part of its plan to ensure victory in the next general election, according to PAS election director Abdul Halim Abdul Rahman.

“About 90 percent of the Indonesians who work in the construction, plantation and industrial sectors have been given this status,” he said, adding that the government would register them as voters in constituencies where BN lost narrowly in the last election.
“PAS is monitoring the situation and we know how to counter this.”

He said BN, hell-bent on securing a two-third majority in Parliament, was also using the Election Commission to shift voters, placing its known supporters in areas it lost in 2008 and shifting out opposition-friendly Chinese voters to replace them with BN-friendly names.
“BN is targeting tight areas where it lost by narrow margins of one to two thousand votes in the last election,” he said.

“The number of voters being shifted is based on its performance the last time.”
Abdul Halim also said PAS was certain that the Election Commission would start redrawing election boundaries next year as part of BN’s gerrymandering strategy.

The commission is expected to present its proposals to the government next March.
“BN is desperate for its two-third majority,” Abdul Halim said.

“We believe the Prime Minister will call for elections only when it is confident that it can win that majority.”