DAP: Phantom voters, literally
By Stephen Then, The Star
MIRI: A dead voter may suddenly appear on polling day, cast her vote in Pujut and return to her resting place, with the satisfaction of having fulfilled her duty as a citizen even in death.
“Salus binti Ali”, who was born in 1890, is eligible to vote according to the latest electoral roll in the April 16 state election, making her, at the age of 121, the oldest person ever to vote in an election in recent years.
Her polling centre is SJK Chung Hua Krokop.
This scenario was presented by DAP, which says it has uncovered oddities in the electoral roll issued by the Election Commission (EC).
The party claims it has discovered 98 cases of people well over 100 years old listed as registered voters in the “hot seats” of Piasau and Pujut in Miri Division.
Miri DAP election director Anthony Loke Siew Fook said election workers going through the latest electoral roll had uncovered these peculiar cases.
He said another presumably dead voter, Sim Huan Choo, aged 118 (born in 1894), was listed as a registered voter in Pujut. Her polling centre is also SJK Chung Hua Krokop.
Loke expressed concern that there could be more of such cases not only here but elsewhere in Sarawak.
“The EC assured everyone recently that its electoral roll was updated and clean and there are no phantom voters. How will it explain this big number of voters who are more than 100 years old?
“We have gone through the roll for Piasau and Pujut constituencies and have so far found 98 such cases. There could be more,” he told reporters.
Loke said Miri was either a city with many very old people or there was something wrong with the EC electoral roll.
“We have found cases of voters said to be born way back in 1890. This looks strange. The EC must have another look at the electoral roll quickly,” he said.
Loke urged the EC to recheck the roll, saying there could be more “peculiar voters”.
He advised other Pakatan Rakyat parties to scrutinise the electoral roll of all 71 state seats for voters who could be already dead but were still listed as voters.
EC deputy chairman Wan Ahmad Wan Omar recently said that the commission had thoroughly checked and verified the electoral roll and found it up-to-date and clean and that there were no phantom voters.
Loke, who is the MP for Rasah, is here to oversee the DAP’s preparations for the polls.
Miri DAP chairman Fong Pau Teck, who is Sarawak DAP deputy secretary, is challenging SUPP incumbent Andy Chia in Pujut.
Lawyer Ling Sie Kiong from DAP is contesting against SUPP president Tan Sri Dr George Chan in Piasau. Dr Chan is the incumbent for Piasau.
