LETTER | I wish to congratulate you for your remarkable performance in combating terrorism. The police are the watchdog of the national security, and the enforcement of law and order in the country relies on the effectiveness of the police force. The police were able to make many arrests before the terrorists struck. That deserves our highest compliments.

We understand that the police have only limited manpower and resources. If we want crimes to be reduced effectively, the rakyat must cooperate with the police by providing information to them or to lodge police reports when there is evidence of a crime.

However, if the police do not act or respond or investigate promptly any reports lodged which would reveal elements of an alleged crime being committed, and the perpetrators of the crimes identified, then the public would have a negative perception of the police force and the integrity of the force would be questioned.

I am referring to the police reports lodged by us last year between August and November 2017, which concerns those who had given false information to the Election Commission (EC) and the National Registration Department (NRD) about the address of their residence and in the process, attempted to change to another polling station.

We have conducted a door to door survey /investigation on the voters in the electoral roll for Wangsa Maju and as a result of the investigation, we have evidence of people who alleged to be residing in the addresses, but from our investigation, these people never lived in the addresses nor did the house owners of the stipulated address(es) know or have seen such a person living at the address.

It is clear from our investigation that false information were given by these people to the EC and NRD stating that they lived there, when in fact, they don’t, and the change/submission of change of address by these people to EC and NRD is suspected to be for the purpose of changing of polling station and thereby jeopardizing the transparency and integrity of the whole polling system in our country.

If the actions of these people are not arrested then we fear the whole registration and polling system in our country would be compromised and this would not be good for the country.

Section 177 of the Penal Code states very clearly that:

“if any person who is bound to give information to a public servant and had instead given false information is guilty of a crime and is punishable...”

In all our reports ie:-

Aug 8, 2017, Wangsa Maju/009431/17 - 240 persons, Oct 6, 2017,  Setapak/015906/7 - 77 persons, Nov 2, 2017, Wangsa Maju/013309/17  - 863 persons, and Nov 10, 2017, Wangsa Maju /013648/17 – 249 persons - the total number of people reported to the police of giving false information to EC and NRD is 1,429 and we have also identified a further 3,500 suspects who had also given false information to EC and NRD. 

The above are the facts of the case and after the reports lodged, the police had in our knowledge only recorded a statement from the person who lodged the reports, S Raveentheran on November 9, 2017, and after that, we do not have any further news or development of the investigation being made known to us despite us asking many times the Investigating Officer (IO) for updates.

We are truly disappointed that a serious crime of giving false information to a public servant (in this case to EC and NRD – two very important bodies in the government) thereby establishing the crime as provided in Section 177 is not being investigated fully, or efficiently. As that is the impression we have when the IO of the case did not give any information to us on the development of the investigation.

We are convinced that a serious crime has been committed in this matter unless the police investigation reveals otherwise, and if this statement is only our perception then we challenge the police to let us know if our perception is wrong about the police.

We want justice done in this matter and the only righteous thing for the police to do is to do a complete and thorough investigation into this matter so that there is closure.

If this matter is not investigated thoroughly then the perpetrators of this crime would be free to jeopardise our general election and our registration and polling systems and also the integrity and transparency of the democratic election system in this country.

Is it not the duty of the police force to curb and arrest crimes being perpetrated in this country? Is it not the duty of the police force to investigate into all reports and give an account of their investigation to the people who lodged the reports? Have any of the perpetrators being arrested thus far? If the police are not investigating these reports then can we know why? If the investigation is done can we know the extent and development of the investigation?

The responsibility of the police in maintaining law and order is of utmost importance to the country and they must discharge their duty in a fair and just manner, without fear or favour. The rakyat deserves a fair and just general election.

Besides arresting those who used falsified addresses to change their polling stations, the perpetrators who masterminded the massive transfer of voters with the intention to manipulate the election results must be brought to justice.

An attempt to win the general election by fraud and to form an illegal government is tantamount to the subversion of the state power. They should be charged with treason!

As GE 14 is drawing near, the police must take immediate action before the election to stop these people from seizing power by fraud and illegal means.

We have high expectations from you, Sir, and we look forward to seeing you sending these criminals to court the way you did to the terrorists.

TAN YEE KEW is a member of PKR political bureau. 

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.