NST: 28 Feb, 2008
Two of Selangor’s oldest voters – a man and a woman – are 128 years old. If they were to cast their ballots on March 8, they could just make it to the Malaysia Book of Records. There’s a snag – Pas disputes their existence. To record the historic balloting, Pas is stationing a photographer on polling day to take a picture of the two senior citizens. The woman is said to be from Petaling Jaya Utara and the man, from Kuala Langat.
“We are very interested in these two and we want to register their particulars for the Book of Records,” said press secretary to the PAS president Roslan Shahir at a Press conference at the party’s headquarters in Jalan Raja Laut today.
“We want to congratulate them and ask whether tempe (soya bean paste) is their secret to longevity,” he said in jest, “but logically, we know that they do not exist and our worry is that someone may come and vote on their behalf.”
Roslan said based on Pas records, there 23 voters aged 100 and above in various constituencies in Selangor and five in Rembau, Negeri Sembilan but when contacted later and told that the number of over 100-year-old voters was in the thousands, he said: “This is very alarming.”
Roslan said Pas had approached the Election Commission on the matter but were not convinced with the explanation given, which was: “No death certificates, no removal of names.”
“The justification is flimsy and not convincing and we found that the EC list is not complete. Some houses are listing at least 30 to 40 voters each, ” he said.
Roslan said the names must be removed immediately because in some constituencies, PAS does not have polling agents to monitor the balloting process.
Commenting on Sabah which has the highest number of 100-year-old voters, Roslan said Pas could not place enough opposition counting agents in remote areas as they don’t have the manpower.
“In such areas, we are weak,” he conceded. “We cannot send people to become counting agents because were don’t have that many. So, what guarantee do we have that these 100-year-old voters would not be replaced by a bogus voter?”