A former army personnel stepped forward today and told a PAS-organised press conference that he was involved in manipulating postal votes while in service under orders of a superior officer.

NONE Nasir Mohamad (left) , who identified himself only as having been "a clerk" at an army camp in Sandakan, Sabah, said the incident occurred during the general election of 1986.

"I, along with another clerk, was ordered to open the (postal) votes bag ... (We) were ordered by a higher officer to open the votes bag, and (we were) ordered to mark the ballots.

"There were about 900 ballot papers including those meant for the army (personnel) and their spouses.

"I was told to divide (the votes) into two, (the other batch was handled by) my friend, whose name is Ayub Mat. He took more than 400 (ballots), I took the remainder.

Nasir said as he was inclined to BN at the time, he marked the ballots at hand in favour of the ruling coalition.

NONE “I took the right of other people who were supposed to have cast those ballots. But as I was in the army, I had to be a ‘yes man’, said Nasir, who left the service in 1998.

Nasir’s claims mirror an earlier incident that allegedly occurred in October 2009, in which one Abu Kassim then-ranked ‘Sargent’ admitted to having voted for other army personnel in two general elections.

Also present at the press conference were PAS Youth’s elections director Mohd Sany Hamzan Hadir and the wing’s ‘Mobilisation and Democratic Rehabilitation’ secretariat chairperson Suhaizan Kaiat.

Asked why he was coming forwarding more than 20 years after the incident, Nasir admitted to having been “fearful” of doing so.

“But since I’m no longer bound to any instructions from the army, I’ve mustered the courage (to do so),” he said, adding that he felt a sense of responsibility to the country’s system of democracy.

At this point in time, Nasir said he has no plans to extend the case he has kept to himself for the past 25 years to the Election Commission (EC).

NONE "It depends on the situation,” said Nasir, who is now a PAS member.

Suhaizan ( left ) said when the matter of Abu Kassim was brought to the attention of EC chairperson Abdul Aziz Yusof during the Bagan Pinang by-election two years ago, Abdul Aziz had assured the incident would not be repeated.

“But if the system is still the same, the same thing may occur again. I said this to Aziz when we met him.

“I didn’t meet with the clerk of (EC deputy commissioner) Wan Ahmad (Wan Omar). I met with the boss of Wan Ahmad,” Suhaizan said snidely.

Postal votes ‘too technical’

Going into the details of the problems they have identified with postal votes, Suhaizan laid out a host of data to support their claims of “fraud”, particularly from the Bagan Pinang and Sibu by-elections.

He raised many issues that were “too technical”, giving ample room for manipulation of postal votes such as through the sale of ballot papers on the black market and the limited power afforded to EC officials and observers at military camps.

Suhaizan, who is also Johor PAS Youth chief, questioned whether the EC has any intention of introducing early voting to replace postal votes as there has not been any attempt to push amendments to existing laws.

“If elections are held this November, will they do it? Amendments need to be brought to the Dewan Rakyat, and later the Dewan Negara. So what system will they use in the coming elections?”

Suhaizan suggested that postal votes only apply to troops who are carrying out critical duties, such as manning the borders, as a means to reduce the possibility of fraud.

“The wives don’t need to be involved. They (soldiers’ wives) are doing other things anyway. If they do vote early, do it outside the camp because it is harder to manage (voting) inside the camp,” he said.

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