Friday, 27 May 2011

More 'evidence' of alleged vote-buying in Sarawak

Although it has been more than a month since the Sarawak state election, polls watchdog Malaysian Election Observation Network (MEO-Net) says it has found more evidence to show that vote-buying was rampant during the campaign period.

MEO-Net coordinator Ong Boon Keong today released a short video recording showing stacks of cash purportedly being distributed to voters in the Tamin state constituency, which was retained by the BN.
NONEThe video, allegedly shot in the verandah of the Rumah Unban Anak Endu longhouse located at Tenting Terentang in Nanga Selangau, shows stacks of ringgit notes placed on the floor being distributed openly on the night of April 14, two days before polling day.

Ong claimed that earlier, the longhouse chief of Rumah Unban Anak Endu, together with other longhouse chiefs, had been summoned to the BN office in Selangau town and given cheques by three assistants to the BN candidate.

The longhouse chief of Rumah Unban Anak Endu then cashed the cheque and distributed RM50 to each longhouse resident whom he felt supported the BN, Ong claimed.

He had been detained by Kuching Immigration officials during his visit to Bengoh on Tuesday and deported to Kuala Lumpur the same night.

No reason was given by the officials but Ong believes it was caused by his continuing efforts at collecting evidence of irregularities during the April state election.
MEO-Net has been furnishing evidence of alleged vote-buying, intimidation and abuses of government resources during the 10-day Sarawak election campaign.
'Tip of the iceberg'

It had earlier released another video clip, showing another longhouse chief purportedly admitting that he had received RM10,000 on behalf of his longhouse to support BN.

Tamin was won by BN through PRS candidate Joseph Mauh Ikeh, who obtained 4,998 votes, a 1,292-majority over PKR's Mengga Mikui, who finished with 3,706 votes in the predominantly Iban area.

"The evidence gathered is just the tip of the iceberg. If the authorities bother to investigate them to the full extent, such as by checking the bank accounts of all longhouse chiefs, their JKKK (village development and security committee) accounts as well as the bank accounts of the candidates involved in the election, MEO-Net is confident there are many more cases than the ones we found," Ong said in a statement distributed during the press conference.

NONE"If these cases are investigated to the full extent, they are likely to nullify the results of the 10th Sarawak state election," Ong (left) said.

He said he found fraud and irregularities to be rampant in the interior areas where media coverage of the election campaign was minimum.

He expressed regret that candidates had not used the evidence gathered to file petitions to challenge the validity of the election.

The deadline to file election petitions has expired.

Ong also pointed out that although the Election Commission had washed its hands off the election irregularities and that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission has refused to investigate the cases, the perpetrators still suffered from the condemnation by the court of public opinion with the evidence surfacing.

"That may, most likely, be the cause behind the politically-motivated deportation of myself, as well as that of the others during the campaign period."

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