The Elections Commission wants us to believe that Malaysia has 8,666 people who are more than 100 years old.

This is stunning, and they still insist that these people - who are eligible voters - are still alive because medically it makes sense that human beings can go on to live past a 100 years even though to many in the country, this may sound ludicrous.

But the whole truth will become more apparent as the years roll on and those who are now aged 100 years will become 130 years during which time, they can hardly be considered to be alive.

How will the EC know if these people are still alive? They say they get the electoral rolls are based on the National Registration Department records. So can't they verify and ask those who are above 100 years old to confirm if they are still alive by writing to them or to their next-of-kin?

Most likely many of them are foreigners brought in by the British who had worked in Malaysia for a long period of time before returning to their original countries where they continued to collect their pensions.

They have been cases that have been reported where their next-of-kin produced their thumbprints derived from the original thumbs which they had cut from the corpses of their dead fathers or grandfathers just so to continue collecting the pension from Malaysia.

However, this sort of ploy cannot go on forever.

I am sure many Malaysians wonder if Malaysia is the country that has the most number of people who are more than a 100 years old? I thought those countries were those in the Himalayas.

If we indeed have 8,666 people who are above 100, surely the Health Ministry would wanted to have highlight this by getting Filem Negara to produce a documentary on them, and getting our medical experts to study their eating habits and lifestyles so that the findings can be used to prlong the lives of others.

But so far, none of this has been done. This must surely indicate that the figure of 8,666 is false and those who parents had died had not bothered to tell the National Registration Department or the Elections Commission about it.

The American film that won the Oscar for best film this year is 'No country for old men'. The Elections Commission must commission Filem Negara to produce a special documentary called, 'A country for old men'. I am sure the National Geographic channel will be delighted to show it.

Because who knows from amongst the 8,666 persons, the oldest one may be someone who is more than 150 years?