Following PKR's allegation that an attempt has been made to give citizenship to foreigners in Selangor in order to secure votes for BN, PAS now suspects that the same thing is happening in Kelantan.

NONE PAS central committee member Kamaruddin Jaafar said the National Registration Department will conduct a large-scale exercise dubbed ‘Mydaftar’ in Pengkalan Kubor, Tumpat, on Saturday.

"I was told that they can get (a Mykad) the same day if they bring relevant documents," said the Tumpat MP.

 He believes that after being given citizenship, those concerned will be registered as voters to increase BN’s vote-bank in Kelantan.

"The targets are the Thai people who live near the border. Many are Malays who profess Islam and they cross the border quite frequently.

"I believe this is a move not only to topple the Kelantan government (headed by PAS) but also the Pakatan state governments in Selangor and Kedah."

Kamaruddin furnished a document to back his claim - a letter written by the Pengkalan Kubor district penghulu (local official) to an imam of a mosque in the district, informing him of the exercise.

The contents of the letter were announced by the mosque official to the congregation before the afternoon prayer last Friday, according to Kamaruddin.

He believes the same letter has been sent to all mosques in Pengkalan Kubor so that the information can be disseminated to the public.

"We urge them to stop this (exercise). This clearly shows an attempt to create (a body of) ‘phantom’ voters  nationwide," he told a press conference at the PAS headquarters in Kuala Lumpur today.

However, he conceded that there is no concrete information to prove that the exercise is aimed at recruiting new citizens to vote for BN.

A notice attached to the letter states that the exercise will be held at the hall of Sekolah Kebangsaan Pengkalan Kubor Satu from 8.30am to 3pm.

"This programme azlan is to issue personal identification documents to the people Kelantan who still do not have any ... and (to) those who are qualified to apply for the service," reads the notice.

The services listed include registration for Mykad and nationality.

‘Exercise will be monitored’

Kamaruddin pointed out that such a large-scale exercise has never been carried out in Tumpat before.

"PAS has a special unit to monitor these exercises and the Tumpat division will observe the programme this Saturday," he said.

NONE Early this month, PKR had alleged that Umno tried to get citizenship for some 2,000 permanent residents in Hulu Selangor, to bolster its vote-bank for the next general election.

The party had obtained a letter purportedly signed by Hulu Selangor Umno division chief Mohamed Idris Abu Bakar (left) .

It was addressed to Home Minister and Umno vice-president Hishammuddin Hussein, allegedly seeking citizenship for the permanent residents.

However both the ministry and Mohamed Idris denied the allegation, with the latter claiming that the letter was a forgery and threatening to sue PKR for levelling the allegation.

Mydaftar is a outreach programme initiated by NRD early this year to resolve the problems faced by Indian Malaysians who do not have relevant documents pertaining to their birth, identification and citizenship.

It was organised by the Special Implementation Taskforce on the Indian Community in collaboration with the Home Ministry.

Since then, the programme has been widened to cover all Malaysians who face the same problem.