How Malaysia became Banglasia on 5th May 2013

Anwar accused the government of bringing in thousands of Bangladeshi migrant workers as phantom voters to secure victory. PKR stood by its allegations that foreign nationals of Bangladesh origin had voted illegally in Election 2013 despite the denial made by the country’s High Commissioner, insisting that it has proof to back its claims. Election Commission deputy chairman Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar said none of the election petitions filed by Pakatan Rakyat mentioned anything about the presence of Bangladeshi phantom voters during the 13th General Election.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

BN’s dirty tricks? Dude, you ain’t seen nothing yet

(Finance Twitter, 3 May 2013) – The Barisan Nasional’s fate relies solely on Election Commission at this crucial stage. On the other hand, its opponent Pakatan Rakyat depends entirely on the people. The Election Commission is the real kingmaker and it will do anything at its disposal to ensure BN’s new term is renewed. Hence the plan to fly in more than 40,000 suspicious foreigners from Sabah and Sarawak via chartered flights. E-mails exposed how PMO (Prime Minister Office) requested for such huge “reinforcement” using 16 charter flights from Malaysia Airline System

Does he really think that the people are that naive? Right, PMO specifically asked for these 40,000 foreigners from Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia, Philippines and whatnot to be given free flights onboard Boeing 747, sponsored by BN friends, and in return vote for opposition. With such intelligence, I suppose your hamster can be the next Election Commission chairman too, no? They should cook up a more convincing excuse or story rather than such silly justification. What’s next – special police VVIP escort for these foreigners to the polling centre to vote?

Anwar shows no sign of giving up despite defeat

(South China Morning Post, 7 May 2013) – Anwar later said his coalition had won the popular vote by a large margin, taking 50.3 per cent compared with 46.8 per cent for the National Front.

“The fact that the opposition won the popular vote by a large margin confirms the mandate given to us and highlights that electoral fraud won the 13th general election for Najib Razak,” Anwar said. “I will work towards a national consensus to question the legitimacy of the government achieved through such electoral fraud,” he said.

Anwar accused the government of bringing in thousands of Bangladeshi migrant workers as phantom voters to secure victory.

Malaysian vote was ‘mother of all frauds’: Anwar

(MSN News, 7 May 2013) – Indelible ink used in the May 5 polls to thwart multiple-voting easily washed off voter’s hands, and there were numerous accounts of angry citizens confronting suspected foreign “voters” at polling centres.

Anwar had earlier alleged a government scheme to fly tens of thousands of “dubious” and possibly foreign voters to flood key constituencies.

The opposition also has raised a number of cases in which they said voting patterns or handling of ballot boxes was suspicious.

PKR stands by phantom voters claims, blames EC for xenophobia

(http://anwaribrahimblog.com, 4 Jun 2013) – PKR has stood by its allegations that foreign nationals of Bangladesh origin had voted illegally in Election 2013 despite the denial made by the country’s High Commissioner here yesterday, insisting that it has proof to back its claims.

The Pakatan Rakyat (PR) party added that the Election Commission (EC) should also take full responsibility for the hostilities shown towards Bangladeshi migrant workers since its failure to deal with complaints of phantom voters had strengthened accusations that the government had won the May 5 polls through fraud.

“We accept their statement, that is their right but you have to ask this question: if majority of our people have been talking about it for a long time, I don’t think your normal Malaysians would go and create news out of nothing and more importantly the integrity of an election is sacred and so important to our country.”

“The way I look at it is that if there are any allegations about phantom voters whether they are Bangladeshis, Indonesians, Filipinos… what is more important is the authorities and the parties responsible for it which is the EC must take it seriously and investigate fully.”

“But they have refused to probe so it strengthens the perception that there are phantom voters from overseas,” PKR strategic director told a press conference at the party’s headquarters here.

Yesterday, the government of Bangladesh denied allegations that its Malaysian-based workers had acted as phantom voters in Election 2013, adding that the “xenophobic” accusation has subjected its citizens to abuse.

The country’s High Commissioner to Malaysia Atiqur Rahman also laughed off claims that 40,000 of Bangladeshi citizens had been transported into Malaysia to vote for the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) a week before the May 5 polls.

He further described the allegations as “propaganda” and “political manipulation” that might put innocent Bangladeshis under increased threat and, at the same time, impose a negative image of its country unfairly.

Allegations of Bangladeshis voting in GE13 absurd, says High Commissioner

(The Star, 4 Jun 2013) – The Bangladesh High Commission here has dismissed allegations of its citizens voting in the 13th general election as “absurd”.

Bangladesh High Commissioner to Malaysia A.K.M. Atiqur Rahman said his office had no knowledge of his country’s citizens voting here on May 5.

“The propaganda of Bangladeshi citizens voting in the 13th general election is nothing but a mere fabrication by some interest groups and a sheer misrepresentation of facts,” he said here yesterday.

He also dismissed the claim that 40,000 Bangladeshis came to Malaysia a week before the polls to vote as absurd.

Calling it a case of “political manipulation”, he said that the portrayal of Bangladeshis as phantom voters had put his countrymen at risk and created a negative image on his country.

Atiqur was also disturbed by the manhandling of “so-called phantom voters” who were accused of being Bangladeshis.

He also said that there were now over 500,000 of his countrymen in Malaysia.

“More than 100 had become naturalised Malaysian citizens, but only after living here for decades,” he added.

Pakatan Rakyat leaders and various individuals on social media have claimed that thousands of foreign nationals, including Bangladeshis, were flown into Malaysia to vote.

Bangladesh High Commission counsellor A.M. Anisul Haque said that their office had not received any official complaint on the matter and chose to intervene only after hearing reports of manhandling and physical abuse of their citizens.

Rumours of Bangladeshis being transported over to Malaysia as phantom voters were widely circulated via social media during the country’s general elections last month, sparking allegations of electoral fraud.

No petition filed by Pakatan on alleged 40,0000 Bangladeshi phantom voters

(The Posto, 27 Jun 2013) – Election Commission deputy chairman Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar said none of the election petitions filed by Pakatan Rakyat mentioned anything about the presence of Bangladeshi phantom voters during the 13th General Election.

Speaking to The Mole on Wednesday, Wan Ahmad said: “There is no mention of the presence of 40,000 Bangladeshi phantom voters as their ground for filing petitions.”

“They mentioned about phantom voters, but they did not petition about the presence of the 40,000 Bangladeshi ‘voters’ as they widely alleged. Their petitions on phantom voters are very general in nature,” he said.

“In fact after looking through, they made no mention about it (the presence of Bangladeshi phantom voters) anywhere in the seats which they have filed petition for,” he added.

This, Wan Ahmad said, is in stark contrast to Pakatan’s strong allegations on the matter prior to, during and immediately after the 13th General Election.

He also said some of the reasons given by Pakatan in filing the petition include the usage of indelible ink, blackout incidents at polling centres and matters relating to the electoral rolls.

It was previously highlighted that there were no petitions filed by the Opposition, which mentioned anything about the presence of “Bangladeshi phantoms.”

Issue of alleged 40,000 Bangladeshi voters in GE13 to be answered in Parliament

(Bernama, 18 Sep 2013) – The issues of the alleged voting by 40,000 Bangladeshis and power supply disruption at a vote counting centre during the 13th General Election (GE13) will be answered by the government at the next Dewan Rakyat sitting starting this Monday. 

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim, who is in charge of Parliament, said: “At the sitting this time, we will respond to several issues including the claim that 40,000 Bangladeshis had voted in the GE13.”

The second Dewan Rakyat sitting for the first session of the 13th Parliament from this Monday will go on for eight days until Oct 3 while the Dewan Negara sitting is scheduled for four days from Oct 7.

Shahidan said the issue of the alleged involvement of Bangladeshi voters and power supply disruption in the GE13 needs to be raised in Parliament to stop the lies to the public.