Dispute over Razali's victory in Muar Umno polls

A group of Muar Umno division members want the party and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to look into their claims of widespread irregularities and vote-buying during the party's divisional-level election last month.

At a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today, group spokesperson Omar Idris said Umno risked losing support in Johor unless these allegations were properly investigated.

The group is upset by foul play it says were used by individuals who wanted to ensure that Razali Ibrahim was made division chief.

Razali beat Parit Tunggal branch leader Jalalludin Kasim with a razor-thin majority of 19 votes.

"Razali's victory looks pre-determined... It felt like we didn't vote at all, and instead we just wrote a name on a piece of paper, but the winner was decided by the election officers.

"We still love the party and appeal to our leaders to pay attention to money politics and take action against Razali... give us back our stolen victory for the sake of the future of the party," Omar said.

Omar claimed that he and his comrades had submitted reports detailing the irregularities – which included unsealed ballot boxes, blackouts during vote counting, intimidation of voters and vote-buying – to the MACC and the Umno disciplinary board.

The group is hoping that the Umno disciplinary board will overturn the election result and declare Jalalludin the rightful winner.

However, their complaints fell on deaf ears. The group held a protest  in Muar on Nov 1, involving more than 100 people, but no media organisation covered the event.

Attempts to silence the group?

Desperate and worried that there was an attempt to silence them, 12 party members representing the group travelled three hours to Kuala Lumpur and called a press conference this afternoon, despite the fact that most Muslims were observing Maal Hijrah on this day.

Apart from Malaysiakini, two other news organisations covered the event.

The group's press statement also said they were concerned about Umno not taking their complaint seriously because Razali, who is also an Umno supreme council member, enjoys good ties with vice-president Hishammuddin Hussein.

Omar claimed that Razali is not a popular figure among Umno grassroots and the Muar voters, pointing to how his majority has been slashed from a high of 13,415 votes in the 2004 general election to just 1,646 in 2013.

"This is proof that he has failed to manage the constituency well and we believe that in GE14, Umno will lose the Muar parliamentary seat if Razali is kept," Omar said.

He also claimed that more than 100 of the 146 branches that make up the Muar Umno division were unhappy with the conduct of the party elections and some may quit the party if their complaints were not taken seriously.

During the divisional elections, Razali polled 366 votes to Jalaludin's 347. There were 16 spoilt votes, while two delegates did not vote.

At the time of writing, Razali, who is a deputy minister in the Prime Minister's Department, has not responded to Malaysiakini's request for a reply to the allegations.