The allegedly confidential document entitled 'Tahun Tawan Kedah 2003' (Capture Kedah year 2003) exposed by Umno vice-president Najib Abdul Razak in the media today, was actually a working paper presented by a PAS member during a seminar more than two years ago.

PAS' Kedah commissioner Azizan Abdul Razak said that, the working paper was not confidential and never touched on PAS' involvement in "systematically arranging the movement of voters to all state seats at the coming general election" as alleged by Najib who is also the defence minister.

He said there is no reason for PAS to issue confidential documents as it has always been transparent in its plans and agenda to capture the state in the next general election.

When asked the content of the working paper, Azizan clarified that it had advised its members to make appropriate relocation in the event that a redelineation takes place to ensure continuity of activities and support to the party.

"During the seminar we anticipated that there would be redelineation and true enough our suspicions were correct. In working towards victory, we advised that if a change of electoral boundaries takes place, PAS members should relocate to follow the new boundary.

"For example, the three state seats Langgar, Bukit Lada and Tanjung Seri were under the Pokok Sena parliament. But now Tanjung Seri has been relocated under the Alor Setar parliamentary constituency. So we advise our members to shift to Alor Setar to continue their activities. That is all and not as alleged by Umno," he said.

To smear PAS

He said Najib had failed to understand the issues presented on the paper and instead of checking the document, the minister had exposed it to the media just to smear PAS' clean image.

"We have repeatedly denied any illegal involvement linked to phantom voters. As we said earlier, it is Umno who flouts the election laws by misusing government mechanism and agencies," he said.

On its front-page today, Utusan Malaysia reported that Najib had exposed a "confidential document" issued by the Kedah state liaison unit in January 2000 to discuss the relocation of voters to all state seats to ensure victory for the party.

Najib claimed that the document proved PAS had a hand in the existence of phantom voters as alleged by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Mahathir, who is also Umno president, made the claim recently stating that PAS' candidate Amirudin Hamzah had won the Anak Bukit by-election in Kedah with the help of phantom voters. He said that after checking two ballot boxes in Anak Bukit state seat, he discovered more than 500 voters who were not born or bred there, neither did they work there.

Youth chief and Pokok Sena MP Mahfuz Omar said Najib's expos was yet another fultile attempt by Umno to divert people's attention from its (Umno) own misconduct and mistakes.

Pointing the finger

"Instead of addressing their problems, they chose to point the finger at us. They refused to admit that their in-house disputes and bad policy-making had turned the voters away.

"But I thank Umno for adopting such an attitude because it will make it easier for us to convince the people in Kedah that it is time to reject Umno," Mahfuz said.

As to the allegation that "outsiders" were registered as voters in Anak Bukit, he said the matter is not new and even practised by Umno.

"In my constituency I have voter who is born and bred in Seberang Perak, went to study in Singapore, has an address in Titi Gajah, but is actually living and working in Putrajaya. Yet he casts his vote in Pokok Sena. I'm talking about Dr Mahathir. Does that makes him a phantom voter?" he asked.

He also suspected that the continuous attack against PAS on the phantom voters issue is a platform for Umno to force the Election Commission (EC) to remove PAS supporters from the voters list under the guise of a "clean-up operation" to weed out phantom voters.

"This is why I think they are making these allegations. I hope EC will not be trapped in Umno's political ploy," he said.

PAS secretary-general Nasharuddin Mat Isa said that, as a registered body, the party had never issued secret official documents.

Democratic process

Nasharuddin said PAS had never hidden its intention to topple Umno in Kedah but would also never resort to dirty political tactics. He is confident that the normal democratic process is enough to help the party win in the northern state.

He said that the "imported voters" is a non-issue as the recent amendment to the election laws already stated that one must vote in the constituency according to the address stated in the identity card.

Nasharuddin said PAS is now immune to Umno's accusations and prefers to concentrate in dealing with the EC on the issue of redelineation of electoral boundaries.

"The change of electoral boundaries is a dirty tactic to ensure that the Barisan Nasional (BN) continues to hold the majority in the government. It shows that the BN has no qualms about using the EC to remain in power.

"We'd like to remind Umno that whatever tactics used, only the voters' decision counts in the end. It does not matter where the voters are put because if they support PAS, they will vote for PAS no matter where they are. That is the fundamental of a democratic election," he said.