Armed Forces chief Zulkifeli Mohd Zin should act to eradicate postal voting fraud instead of hitting out at army personnel who - as an act of true patriotism - expose such acts, said Lim Kit Siang.

ops scorpene dinner 220711 kit siang The Ipoh Timor MP ( left ) slammed Zulkifeli for attacking those who expose such fraud as an act of betrayal and disloyalty to the armed forces.

“In actual fact, the ex-military personnel who come forward to expose postal vote fraud are the true patriots who love the army and the country, as they want to see the army continue to be held in the highest esteem by all sectors of society and the country restored to the right track of a healthy democratic nation,” said Lim in a statememt today.

“Zulkifeli’s rhetorical question, ‘How can we be loyal to you if you are disloyal to us’ is not only misplaced but is the classic example of how far the public service, of which the armed forces are part, have deviated from its proper non-partisan and professional role,” said Lim.

He reminded the army chief that the loyalty of all Malaysians, in particular public servants including the armed forces, should be directed to the country and the Agong, and not to any political party like Umno.

NONE “...it is not only wrong, but a great national disservice to indoctrinate anyone including public servants and the armed forces to be more loyal to Umno than to the country or to equate loyalty to Umno as loyalty to the country.”

Lim said Zulkifeli ( right ) should instead be taking effective measures to eradicate flaws exposed in the army postal votes system, such as allowing candidates to send polling agents into military establishments to supervise the postal ballot voting process.

On Wednesday four ex-military personnel, who had served at army and air force bases across the country, confessed that they had marked thousands of postal votes on behalf of the actual voters, in three separate general elections between 1978 and 1999.

Zulkifeli responded the following day denying the allegations and calling the confessions “treachery”, demanding loyalty to the forces.

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