Malaysiakini
Fauwaz Abdul Aziz | Mar 6, 08
There are 46 Ismail Ibrahims – all born in the year 1962 but registered as having different identity cards (IC) and living in 46 different localities – who have been registered to vote in various places throughout the country.
Similarly, 14 Ismail Jusohs, all born in the year 1966 but hold different identity card numbers (IC) and registered as living in 14 different localities, have also been slated to vote.
There may perhaps be many Ismails whose last names are also Ibrahim or Jusoh, conceded Malaysians for Free and Fair Elections (Mafrel) chairperson Abdul Malek Hussin.
mafrel pc 050308 abdul malek hussin”(But) that’s why we need mathematicians to help us come up with the (statistical) probability of male voters with same name and date of birth. What is the statistical probability of that?” he asked in jest during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
Abdul Malek said there is a total of 195 incidences of postal voters, including those referred to above, who have been registered several times under the same first and last names and born in the same year.
“We’re not saying all these Ismail Ibrahims are the same person. We’re just saying this is an issue that (leads to) serious doubt,” he said further.
Indelible ink
Abdul Malek was responding to the decision of the Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday to do away with the usage of indelible ink on voters to distinguish them from those who have not voted.
Various quarters, including Mafrel, had called for its use in order to prevent multiple voting, voter impersonation and fraud.
The EC, however, said it would not introduce indelible ink as planned because it had uncovered a plot to sabotage the polls by using smuggled ink to mark unsuspecting voters before they cast their ballot, which would cause confusion.
EC also argued that current laws do not provide for making the constitutional right to vote conditional upon voters’ having their fingers marked with indelible ink.
Protesting the EC decision, Abdul Malek and several other Mafrel members also announced their ‘partial’ withdrawal as EC-accredited observers.
No such thing
Human Rights Watch said yesterday that in the face of major irregularities in the election process, there were concerns the government will manipulate the voting in closely fought districts.
It cited research by electoral reform campaigners who said that almost 9,000 voters born more than 100 years ago – including two reported to be 128 years old – were enrolled to vote, raising suspicions about phantom voting.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, however, has criticised claims that the ink plan was dropped in a bid by his ruling government to fix the polls.
“There is no such thing. We never cheat. We have been successful not because we cheated, we did well and we worked hard,” he was quoted as saying by Bernama.