Hulu Selangor Umno chief Mohamed Idris Abu Bakar has denied that he had ever written or signed a letter to solicit citizenship-for-votes ahead of an anticipated snap general election.

NONE “We never wrote that letter. Why should we? We won in the (Hulu Selangor) by-election (last year)," he said when contacted this morning.

Mohamed Idris (left) , who is also Hulu Bernam assemblyperson, claimed that the letter was a forgery and described yesterday’s claims by PKR as tantamount to "slander".

"This is slander, because that was not my signature on the letter and my name was not stated in full," he asserted.

Selangor PKR deputy head Zuraida Kamaruddin released copies of a letter, written on what appears to be an Umno letterhead, and signed by one Idris Abu Bakar. It is addressed to Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein.

NONE The letter seeks citizenship for about 2,000 permanent residents for the purpose of helping "BN win" in the constituency.

"The letterhead is not very clear (in the media reports), but what is certain is that the Hulu Selangor Umno division did not produce it.

"I don't know if some people stole the letterhead to produce the letter. It is quite easy, but the thought of (soliciting citizenships for votes) never even crossed my mind," said Mohamed Idris with a chuckle.

Malaysiakini had yesterday contacted his office for comment, and a member of his staff confirmed that such a "support letter" had been issued to the Home Ministry.

However, when contacted again today, she said the letter was not signed by Mohamed Idris, and refused to comment further.

Hulu Selangor parliamentarian P Kamalanathan has yet to respond to  Malaysiakini's queries on the matter.

'Authenticity not verified'

NONE Contacted for her response today, Zuraida (left in photo) admitted that she had not attempted to verify the authenticity of the letter and its content with the Home Ministry before making the claim.

However, the Ampang parliamentarian said "as concerned citizens", PKR has done its part and now it is up to the relevant authorities to investigate.

"This is the standard line, typical of BN-Umno to deny. Now they will do the necessary cover-up," she said.

"We are not worried about Umno's vote-bank as much as we are concerned about national security," Zuraida added.

PKR supreme council member Khalid Jaafar this morning lodged a police report on the letter at the Bukit Sentosa police station, located in the Hulu Selangor parliamentary constituency.

In his report, Khalid urges the police to also investigate the possibility of a ‘citizenship syndicate’, similar to the one said to have operated in Sabah.

He said there was no provision in the federal constitution to give out citizenship for the purpose of fishing for votes.

Call for a royal probe

Meanwhile, constitutional law expert Abdul Aziz Bari decried the fact that while allegations about citizenship being easily given away were on the rise, nothing had been done about it.

“The constitution puts the power to deal with this matter in the government, but I think we have a problem here as the process is not open and transparent. The procedures are set out in the various provisions of Part III of the federal constitution.”

The law professor noted that calls for a royal commission on the matter, included the alleged ‘Project M’ in Sabah , have been ignored.

“It seems that the only remaining option is to bring the matter to the Conference of Rulers. This is because, historically, the rulers had played a key role: they demanded the British to make them involved in it," Abdul Aziz said.

“Under the constitution, the provision can only be amended with the consent of the rulers [underArticle 159(5)]. It may be argued that even the rules made by the National Registration Department to regulate the process ought to be approved by the rulers.

“We have a stronger case for this, given the rising (number of) complaints about it - particularly when it has a direct bearing on elections.”