Pairin to EC: Clean up the Sabah electoral rolls

Kota Kinabalu, Sun. : PBS President, Datuk Seri Panglima Joseph Pairin Kitingan said the Election Commission has to take the cue from High Court Judge Justice Datuk Muhammad Kamil Awang by embarking on a "cleaning up" process to eliminate "phantom voters" from the Sabah electoral rolls.

Datuk Pairin said there must be serious consideration to resolve the matter for the sake of Malaysia's image as a democratic country, as well as the genuine Malaysians and their future generations. He described the recently delivered judgement of Justice Muhammad Kamil on the Likas election petition as an eye-opener and a wake-up call to the Election Commission

"We say this without any malice or ill-intention but we believe that much evidence has been adduced inside and outside the courts over the years by various sources and well-meaning and conscientious people and organisations which can no longer be ignored nor simply swept under the carpet," he said.

Datuk Pairin, who is also Tambunan Assemblyman and Keningau MP, pointed out that the issue on phantom voters had been too serious a matter to be treated lightly, "as in the past". He said PBS had always given its best to try and help rectify the situation by repeatedly emphasising that the electoral roll had been polluted by the registration of foreigners, illegal immigrants and even underaged people as voters.

"This is against the essence of our Malaysian Constitution", he said, adding that it could not be denied that registration of non-citizens had taken place each time the registration exercise of voters took place.

Pairin also claimed that there had been serious instances where foreigners and illegal immigrants were listed as voters in the Sabah electoral rolls, including Keningau, Kuala Penyu, Papar and Kinabatangan, "but these were rejected by the Election Commission".

He regretted that no concrete action had been taken to eliminate the great number of foreigners and illegal immigrants from the electoral rolls, despite being highlighted by the party through various forums such as Parliament, State Assembly and the newspapers.

"This has been very disheartening and almost discouraging. But the tenacity and serious determination as well as dedication of some people within our community and with PBS has provided us with the necessary impetus and dogged determination to carry on with the necessary task of seeking for justice and solutions, especially in the protection of our Malaysian citizens' rights to vote as legal and constitutional voters," he said.

He said there was no reason why the government could not ensure that only citizens of Malaysia would be registered as voters, especially with all the technical expertise and knowledge, as well as the availability of many types of computer software.

"There has never been any direct answer to this."