While Pakatan has expressed concerned over the 28 percent out of 500,000 new voters in Selangor who can’t be identified, the Election Comission (EC) has rebutted that it is “normal” given the fact that mobility in the state is high.

“The question of 28 percent of new voters who can’t be traced, that is normal,” its deputy chief, Wan Ahmad Wan Omar, told a press conference held at his residence today.

Wan Ahmad said people are moving around in the country, changing jobs, graduating, and this contributes to the number of voters who can’t be identified.

In 2010, Selangor ranked top in terms of the number of eligible citizens who have not registered as voters, with 700,000 such people, he said.

NONE However, according to Wan Ahmad ( centre in picture ), the number has been reduced to 250,000 due to aggressive efforts by the EC, political parties, NGOs and the citizens themselves.

“And don't be surprised if I tell you, the Pakatan parties have been very aggressively doing the registrations in Selangor.

“So, when the number of voter increase is so high, they shouldn’t be hairan (surprised),” he said.

To a question whether the EC will work with Pakatan state governments in an effort to clear up the electoral roll, Wan Ahmad seem quite reserved.

'Selangor only wants opolitical mileage'

“The state government didn’t come to see us. They go to the media for publicity, get political mileage, then send EC a document (letter), what’s the point?” he questioned.

"If state governments are sincere, they will come to us, listen to our explanations and then we will work together," he said.

Wan Ahmad said what Selangor Mentri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim had said was a purely political statement to impress the people that such a huge number of phantom voters existed in the state.

"They talk about politics, while we talk about facts," he said.

NONE Wan Ahmad said the additional 28 percent or 134,675 new voters in the Q4 2011 electoral roll for Selangor were valid voters, verified with the National Registration Department databank and displayed for 14 days before being  put into the supplementary roll.

"If you can't find them, maybe they used temporary addresses," he said, adding that he frequently changed his address in the state during his younger days.

In another development yesterday, Wan Ahmad filed a defamation suit against PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu and four others over report in the PAS mouthpiece Harakah Daily of Jan 29 which quoted Mat Sabu as alleging Wan Ahmad’s involvement in Project IC.

In the report titled "Wan Ahmad can't be trusted", the deputy chief is also urged to quit the EC.

Wan Ahmad said the defendants made the allegation without checking the facts, and added that he never held any post in the Sabah EC.

How Wan Ahmad was mistaken

The controversy started when a witness, Mohd Nasir Sugip, told the royal commission of inquiry into illegal immigrants in Sabah that Sabah EC chief Wan Ahmad Wan Yusof wanted to process 16,000 illegal immigrants as voters.

Wan Ahmad was initially was mistaken as the former Sabah EC chief named in the inquiry.

PAS secretary-general Mustafa Ali, Harakah 's editor-in-chief Ahmad Lufti Othman, its publisher Angkatan Edaran Ent Sdn Bhd and the writer Aziz Muda are the other defendants named.

Mustafa was sued in his capacity as the Harakah Daily publishing permit holder.

Wan Ahmad is seeking an undetermined amount as compensation, open apology in the newspapers and magazines he chooses and an injunction prohibiting the defendants from publishing and causing the publication of  the defamatory remarks toward him.

A fumed Wah Ahmad criticised parties that continued to bring up the issue, despite realising that he was mistaken as the former Sabah EC chief.

"Human beings tend to make mistakes. We will apologise for our mistakes, but apology doesn't exist in some people's  dictionary," he snapped.

Wan Ahmad filed the lawsuit in his personal capacity. The Kuala Lumpur High Court fixed Feb 20 for case management.

Wan Ahmad was represented by law firm Hafarizam Wan & Aisha Mubarak. Also present were lawyers Abu Bakar Isa Ramat and Norhazira Abu Haiyan.

 

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