The Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on Immigrants in Sabah in 2014 confirmed there were non-citizens in the electoral roll. And data revealed from the election petition for the Likas seat in 2000 shows those doubtful citizens are now registered as voters throughout the country.
The Malaysian Electoral Roll Analysis Project (MERAP) has also found thousands of inconsistencies in the electoral roll that cannot be down to coincidence. MERAP has found the following problems with non-postal voters on the electoral roll:
- Voters with the same name, same date of birth and almost identical IC numbers;
- Voters with the same name and same address;
- Voters with no address;
- Many voters registered in one address;
- Stuffing many voters into one dubious address;
- Voters identified in the Likas by-election petition and the Sabah RCI as doubtful citizens;
- Voters deleted and added to the electoral roll without being included in the public display;
- Fraudulent registration of voters;
- Multiple parliament and state constituencies assigned to a single household.
For postal voters there are voters that appear as both an ordinary voter and a postal voter in the electoral roll.
What do we want?
- A complete audit of the current electoral roll, with special attention given to Sabah, to ensure:
- Only citizens are present;
- There are no duplications of voters, in particular of military and police personnel;
- All voters are registered in a verified address.
- Repeal Section 9A of the Elections Act to allow challenges to the electoral roll in court.
- Make it an offence for illegal alterations of the electoral roll or attempts to add voters to the electoral roll illegally (imagine – it’s not an offence now!).
- Set up an Independent Electoral Roll Auditing Committee to correct errors in the electoral roll.
- Put the electoral roll online that can be accessed for a minimal fee, but protect privacy by imposing a heavy penalty for abuse and distribution of personal data in the roll for commercial reasons.
What else do we want? Click here to find out.