Gerakan president Lim Keng Yaik's proposal that the next general election should only be called after the Election Commission (EC) has cleaned up the electoral rolls is considered as something 'amusing' by DAP.

Describing Keng Yaik's statement as a 'political joke', DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang alleged that it was Gerakan which masterminded phantom voters in Penang during the 1999 general election.

"A week before the polling day (in 1999), I had pointed out that there were thousands of phantom voters in the Bukit Bendera parliamentary constituency (where Lim contested), particularly 279 phantom voters registered in eight Rifle Range flats when it is impossible to have 30 to 40 voters in a flat," Lim said in a statement.

Thus, Lim said it is questionable whether Keng Yaik is serious about cleaning up phantom voters in Bukit Bendera and other constituencies in Penang which the former Tanjong MP claimed to be planted by Gerakan itself.