DAP leader Lim Kit Siang today call on the Election Commission to investigate the allegation made by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad that some 600 Chinese Malaysian voters failed to turn up on polling day in last week's Anak Bukit by-election due to threats from PAS members.

Lim said that since PAS leaders have rejected the accusation, it is now the commission's responsibility to confirm or deny the prime minister's allegation.

"Malaysians do not want such a serious and unsubstantiated allegation to stand uninvestigated or to be used as an excuse to justify draconian amendments to the election laws which will make the electoral playing field even more lopsided in favour of the ruling party," said Lim in a statement.

Raising doubt on Mahathir's accusation, Lim questioned why there was no police report made on polling day that Chinese Malaysian voters were intimated by PAS supporters.

Instead, he said, MCA and Gerakan leaders were very pleased with their success in bringing out the ethnic Chinese, who gave most of their support to the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition's candidates both in the Anak Bukit state and Pendang parliamentary seats.

Lim added that a Kedah MCA leader claimed that the turnout of Chinese Malaysian voters in Anak Bukit was 84 percent, a marked improvement from the 65 percent in the 1999 general election.

Anak Bukit has a total of 19,399 registered voters, comprising 16,889 Malay Malaysians (87.06 percent), 2,151 Chinese Malaysians (11.09 percent), 290 Indian Malaysians (1.49 percent) and 69 other Malaysians (0.36 percent).

Lim said that with 84 percent of Chinese Malaysian voters casting their ballots as claimed by the Kedah MCA leader, an additional 600 voters (28 percent) would bring the total of Chinese voters in Anak Bukit to 112 percent.

This could give the impression that there were phantom voters in the hotly contested state constituency, he lamented.

Baseless

Yesterday, PAS secretary-general Nasharuddin Mat Isa told malaysiakini that Mahathir's accusation was baseless and made with "bad intention".

PAS leaders claimed that the allegation was unjustified especially given that the total voter turnout is about 86 percent and 4,000 police personnel were present in both constituencies on polling day.

PAS candidate Amiruddin Hamzah beat BN's Zakaria Said with a 508-vote majority in Anak Bukit, while BN regained the parliamentary seat in Pendang when its candidate Othman Abdul defeated PAS' Dr Sayuti Othman with a slim majority of 283.

The by-elections were held on July 18, following the death of PAS president Fadzil Mohd Noor in June.