BN won Sarawak with notes not votes, claim analysts
By Clara Chooi, The Malaysian Insider
PETALING JAYA, April 27 — Analysts here agreed that money politics and widespread election irregularities contributed greatly to Barisan Nasional’s (BN) success in the just-concluded Sarawak polls.
Speaking at a forum here last night, they related how BN had not mobilised its party machinery to campaign in the polls but instead made full use of both federal and state government resources to canvass for votes.
In the interiors, said the analysts who were also in Sarawak as observers, eye-witnesses told of vote-buying from as low as RM20 to some, and for others, up to hundreds or even thousands, depending on their geographic location.
Pakatan Rakyat (PR) has also complained of vote-rigging, claiming the campaign had not been a level playing field for all contesting parties.
BN, claimed the opposition, had not only completely mobilised both state and federal Cabinet minister but also made use of departments like Kemas, Jasa, Information Department and Welfare Department to become campaigners and agents during the polls.
The Malaysian Insider understands that BN’s federal government election machinery alone had cost over RM500 million for the 10-day campaign period.
According to PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli, there were also reports that Kemas and Jasa officers were made to camp out in longhouses several days before the April 16 polling day to distribute funds.
There were numerous other complaints made against the Election Commission (EC) over vote tampering, the sudden blackout at a vote tallying centre, the EC’s refusal to allow a recount and its failure to provide copies of the Form 14 to party polling agents.
Political scientist Wong Chin Huat described the electoral discrepancies as a “scourge”, adding that BN’s had drawn much of its success from exploiting its role in government.
“This election was not won by counting votes alone but by counting notes as well,” he told a Merdeka Center forum on the Sarawak polls, last night.
He noted that BN candidates and politicians had depended on both private and public funds to woo voters and made use of the civil service to help them in their campaign.
Government agencies and departments, he claimed, were made to organise and attend daily programmes with voters across the hornbill state.
“It was a non-level playing field. Did you know that even the EC was used extensively… they were giving out BN leaflets to voters along with ballot papers!” he complained.
Wong also argued that the EC had deliberately blocked legitimate Sarawak-born citizens from voting as postal voters, resulting in an “unfair” reflection of the people’s support for the opposition.
“There are so many Sarawakians living elsewhere, whether in the peninsula or in Singapore or abroad but there were no postal ballots given for the Sarawak diaspora.
