Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani, fz.com
PKR leaders said today the party was Bangladeshi-friendly, denying it was attacking the country’s nationals and that it was against phantom voters.
PKR was responding to the statement by the Bangladesh High Commissioner to Malaysia AKM Atiqur Rahman yesterday, refuting rumours of 40,000 Bangladeshi nationals deployed as phantom voters during Malaysia’s 13th general election.
The High Commissioner labelled the allegations “impossible” and mere political manipulation by some quarters.
The party’s vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar said the High Commission was within its rights to deny the allegations but that should not halt investigations into incidents of electoral fraud and offences in the recently concluded 13th general election.
She said Selangor and Penang, which recently announced a state-level commission of inquiry to investigate incidents of fraud and other election offences, must continue and move forward with their investigations.
“In my opinion, the investigations must continue. We will look at the evidence provided. They (Bangladeshi High Commission) are free to make that statement but the process will have to continue.
“Of course the attacks and hostilities should not be brought against the foreigners… We are not asking the public to hate and so on but we must not let these incidents to be easily forgotten. You have to push and demand that EC and the relevant parties conduct investigations most professionally,” she told a press conference at PKR headquarters.
She also called on the High Commission to join the investigations and provide evidence during the state’s commission of inquiry.
