Sarawak polls: Ban non-Sarawakians from voting, says DAP

(The Star) – DAP has called on Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem to “walk the talk” and reclaim the state’s autonomy by first disallowing West Malaysian soldiers and police officers from voting in the state elections.

State DAP chief Chong Chieng Jen (pic) said it would be the first step to taking back Sarawak’s autonomy from the Federal government.

“He (Adenan) has been talking a lot about taking back the state’s autonomy. So I call upon him and the Election Commission to stop West Malaysian army personnel and police as well as their families from casting their votes in Sarawak.

“They should not be voting here. In my area of Kota Sentosa alone, the army voters have increased by 400, to 3,300 and out of this number, 80 percent are West Malaysians,” he told a press conference.

He added that in areas like Stakan, there are over 47 percent West Malaysian voters.

Chong said these votes would directly affect the election results and it should not be allowed as there was no transparency in their voting process.

“If he really wants to take back the autonomy, then he should start from the root, and the root is the administration of the state which is decided through the state election,” he said.

Chong added that he found it unfair that opposition lawmakers who wanted to come and help with campaigning were banned while thousands of West Malaysian army and police officers were allowed to directly affect the results of the state election.