BALAKONG, 3 Apr: Shadow voters are believed to be among the main contributors to the sharp increase of voters in Balakong and Bangi constituencies after the 12th General Elections.
Voters whose status raised doubt have been detected when a man from Indonesia came to the Serdang Member of Parliament’s office to obtain letters of support for a business permit from the Kajan Municipal Council (MPKj).
According to Serdang Member of Parliament, Teo Nie Ching, she said she was surprised when a gentleman named Hotim bin Abdul Jalil showed his MyKad.
“After he left, I checked on the Election Commission (EC) website and what frightened me the most was when I found that he was a voter in my constituency,” said Nie Ching in a press statement which was held at the DAP Office here in Kampung Baru.
Apart from Hotim, subsequent checking with the Serdang Member of Parliament Office also managed to detect at least 31 individuals registered with the EC whose status were questionable or cannot be traced in the Serdang Parliament.
What is more shocking is when the checks found that a majority of dubious voters were registered by the Special Affairs Department (JASA), a body under the Ministry of Information Communication and Culture.
“Registering voters does not fall into JASA’s work scope, this is suspicious,” added Teo.
Teo added that the number of voters in the Serdang area has increased by 42 percent over the past five years starting from 2008. This is from 94,877 to 134,888 in the fourth quarter of last year.
This increase involves an increase of 23 percent for the Sri Kembangan constituency, 51 percent for the Balakong constituency and 50 percent for the Bangi constituency.
In the same press conference, MPKj Council Member, Mohammad Ali Khair Abdil Ghafar expressed regret with the government’s action of easily giving out citizenship to foreigners who do not have professional qualifications.
“Citizenship should be given to professionals who have specific expertise, not to labourers,” said Mohammad Ali Khair.
He added that the granting of citizenship to non-professionals will narrow the job market and business opportunities for local residents.