Spectre of phantom voters reappears

The Straits Times, April 28, 2007


BATANG BERJUNTAI (SELANGOR) - WHETHER it is the general election or a by-election, the spectre of 'pengundi hantu', or phantom voters, makes an appearance.

The Ijok by-election is no different, with the opposition raising accusations that the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition might resort to electoral fraud by using illegal voters to ensure a win.

There are two types of phantom voters. One are those who do not reside in a particular district or are not originally from the area who are added to the voter list for the constituency.

Once registered, they will turn up quietly on polling day to cast their ballots.

The other are those who use the name and fake identity card of a dead person to cast a vote - hence the name 'pengundi hantu'.

The opposition charges that such electoral fraud is allegedly carried out with help from the Election Commission, an agency under the Prime Minister's Department.

Election Commission officials have repeatedly rubbished such accusations but to no avail.

On Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, who is leading the Barisan campaign in Ijok, denied the existence of these mysterious voters in the Selangor constituency.

'There is no phantom voter in Ijok,' he told reporters when asked to comment on the issue.

He said the list of voters in Ijok might contain the names of residents who have died but whose names have not been removed because the electoral register takes time to be updated by the Election Commission.

Observers say the opposition raises these accusations for two reasons: One, it could anger people into voting for the opposition if they think Barisan is using dirty tricks, and, second, if the opposition loses, it has a ready-made excuse.

In both the Lunas, Kedah, by-election in 2000 and the Pengkalan Pasir, Kelantan, polls in 2005, opposition leaders blocked roads into the constituencies and checked every vehicle to search for illegal voters.

The tactic usually generates a lot of attention, even though claims that the opposition caught a few illegal voters in Lunas and Pengkalan Pasir could not be verified independently.

For the Ijok by-election, opposition leaders said they have uncovered the names of supposed residents whom they could not locate at the addresses given by the Election Commission.

'There are more than 1,000 names of people whom we could not account for. You go to the address listed, and the house owner says no such person lives there,' said a Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) leader.

As voters can now check on the Internet if their names are listed in certain constituencies, the opposition and some bloggers who trolled through the list said they have found discrepancies in Ijok.

The Election Commission also gives out the list of voters to political parties.

Popular website malaysia-today.net claimed there are 1,700 phantom voters in Ijok, and published copies of the names and dates of birth of some of these voters.

'Voters born in 1900, 1904, 1908, 1913, 1914, 1916, 1918, 1919, 1921, etc are all still alive and are registered voters,' wrote Mr Raja Petra Kamarudin, the website's operator.

According to the gazetted electoral list, there are 31 eligible voters in Ijok who are above the age of 100, online newspaper malaysiakini.com reported a PKR official as saying.

'How many Malaysians actually live over 100?' the PKR women wing's chief, Ms Fuziah Salleh, was quoted as saying.

There is also an eight-year-old listed as a voter.

REME AHMAD