The Election Commission (EC) has denied Umno Youth's claim that Malays are outnumbered 40 to 1 among newly-registered voters.

In fact, for every two new Malay voters registered, there is only one new non-Malay voter, EC chief Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said today.

NONE In an interview with Malaysiakini , Abdul Aziz (above) said that the ratio was based on the number of voters registered in the first quarter of 2008 until the first quarter of 2010.

“(You should) ask him how he got the (40:1) numbers,” said Abdul Aziz, referring to the alarm bells raised by Umno Youth's membership and voter registration bureau chief Hishamuddin Yahya.

Earlier this week, Malay language newspaper Berita Harian quoted Hishamuddin claiming that the trend showed that Malay political power was under threat.

Hishamuddin (below) also said that the study conducted by the bureau covered all aspects, including age and sex.

flash mob read newspaper upside down 020510 umno youth mohd hishamuddin yahya According to the EC’s statistics, out of 569,137 newly-registered voters, 355,805 (62.52%) are Malay, while 131,047 (23.03%) are Chinese and 27,823 (4.89%) Indians [ see chart below ].

However, when pressed on the validity of Hishamuddin’s claim, Abdul Aziz said that it could be based on monthly statistics rather than the complete numbers.

During party voter registration campaigns in May, there were more non-Malays than Malays who registered, he said.

“Maybe he was quoting those (statistics),” said Abdul Aziz, citing the monthly monitoring table.

Asked whether last month’s ratio could have reached 1:40, Abdul Aziz said:

“That I am not too sure. He (Hishamuddin) has to answer where he got the 40 to 1 ratio. I do not want to comment on the ratio by others.”

DAP most active in registering voters

On the contrary, he hoped that the phenomenon of monthly statistics is only temporary.

He revealed that the DAP is currently the most active political party in registering new voters.

“In May, you see (DAP registered) 14,000 (people) while Umno (only registered) 7,000,” he said.

As of the first quarter of 2010 there were still 4,312,465 (27.7%) eligible voters yet to register.

azlan Out of these 1,892,198 (43.88%) were Malays, 1,322,121 (30.66%) Chinese and 400,997 (9.3%) Indians.

In a statement today, the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections (Bersih) slammed the identification of new voters along racial lines, saying that electoral reforms should be on the principles of democracy, not racial sentiments with a hidden political agenda.

The issue, said its president S Ambiga, was not the racial composition of new voters but rather the lack of automatic voter registration as practised in Indonesia and Australia.

She also lambasted the government’s claim that automatic registration is not feasible as many people no longer reside at the address stated on their identity cards.

“Suppose that someone reaches the age of 21, lives in Kuala Lumpur but his MyKad address is in Alor Star, he still should be given the chance to vote in Alor Star.

“It is basic principle to provide all qualified citizens the right to vote, wherever they are based,” she said.