Poser Over The Elections Commission

16 March 2008 (www.mysinchew.com)
Now that the general election is over, I can’t help but ask – what ever happened to the many allegations thrown at the election commission?
A few days ago someone wrote to a local daily saying he believed the EC ” has done well in organizing the whole election process “.
” No one can claim fraud or bias otherwise the states would not have fallen like ten pins to the opposition”, wrote a gentleman who goes by the name Quah Kim Lan to the The Star newspaper. And he went on to say a public apology to the EC is in order, if not praise.
In fact, a friend of mine asked now that they had tasted great success how come the opposition are no more talking about allegations and EC “biasness” ? Actually they still are but perhaps not too loudly..
We all know what the allegations and accusations levelled at the EC were.
One was the “presence” of “phantom voters”. Just before polling detractors of the EC said ” phantom voters” would be brought in from God knows where to certain constituencies to ensure victory for BN candidates.
The EC said these were not “phantom voters” but were “actually registered voters who had moved out to other states but did not change their old addresses “. Hence they would come back to vote at their home sate.
Many were not satisfied with the explanation . But allegation of phantom voters is not new. I remember reading an article years ago where a local journalist likened allegation of phantom voters to that of ghost stories.
Everyone talk about ghosts but no one have seen it. Anyway a television news report by Al Jazeera recently showed many registered voters being traced to same addresses. In one case, 23 voters were said to be living in one particular house near Kuala Lumpur when the house was said to be “too small to accommodate 23 people”.
And there was another instant when “registered voters” were said to be staying in an house about to be sold. Explanation by an EC official given to the Al-Jazeera crew was not convincing to say the least.
Another ” favourite ” accusation against the EC is on postal votes. We often hear “stories” of postal votes being used to “snatch” certain candidates from the jaws of defeat. And we also hear of the deceased whose names still appear in electoral roll and “rise from their grave to vote”.
And surely we can’t forget the about turn made by the EC a few days before polling on the usage of the indelible ink .That didn’t do it’s reputation any good. As well as the BN’s.
So with all these allegations of biasness against the EC just how did the opposition win big this time?
To the BN , the EC was not bias. Never was they said adding the opposition victory was “proof of democracy at work “. To the opposition , the “swing” to their favour was so big that it did not ” give room to any sort of manipulation”.
We can argue about this till the end of the world.
Hence I feel it’s time to put an end to all this. A through probe must be done. Perhaps an independent non Malaysian body should be tasked to carry it out.
Now that many members of BERSIH are in parliament they should do all the shouting inside the Dewan Rakyat and not outside but with the aim of eradicating situation which can give trigger off suspicions.
Above all something must be done to rid the EC of allegation and accusation. Not only for the sake of the EC but for all of us as well.
(By MOHSIN ABDULLAH, Editor in Chief ntv7 News and Current Affairs and a blogger) ( The opinions expressed by the writer do not necessarily reflect those of MySinchew )