Suspicious voter asks Pakatan for cash after voting

A suspicious voter from Sabah was briefly questioned by Pakatan Rakyat election workers in Pandan, Selangor, when he attempted to claim money at their booth after voting.

Pandan PKR candidate Rafizi Ramli (right) told reporters that the voter, Mazlan Zulkiflee, had come to the booth outside the Taski Abim Taman Mawar polling centre to claim RM700 at about 1pm today.

He furnished documents including an IC bearing an address in Taman Mawar, and a one-way air ticket for a May 4 AirAsia flight from Kota Kinabalu to Kuala Lumpur.

Reporters arriving at the at the scene at about 1.45pm found Rafizi and a group of about 10 Pakatan Rakyat supporters surrounding Mazlan and questioning him on camera.

They found that he could not sing Negaraku when told to, and could not recall the address stated on his IC.

Mazlan, whose IC suggest that he is 51 years old, also struggled to name which party he voted for or describe its logo, until one of the supporters showed him the PKR flag.

He then claimed to have voted for PKR, and the ‘Rocket’ as well, referring to DAP, which is fielding its candidate for the Teratai state assembly seat there.

Nonetheless, Mazlan insisted that he is a genuine Sabahan, and he had stayed at the Taman Mawar address for three days when he came to Kuala Lumpur to work in 1995.

The property belonged to his cousin’s mother-in-law, he said, who chased him out after the three days and has since sold the house.

However, he could not explain why he used that address although he was only there for three days.

When asked why did he try to claim the money, he said, “I wanted to exchange (the ticket for fare money) if I could. If I can’t, there is nothing I can do,” he said, while failing to name who told him that he could make the claim when asked.

Sensing that there was no point to question him further, Rafizi said, “I have asked and I am not convinced by your answers. I think you are lying but there is nothing more that I could do. Go home.”

He also told him that if he had indeed lied, he would have to answer to Allah for it.

“God willing, if I had lied, let Allah strike me down now,” Mazlan replied, while gesturing as if slitting his own neck.

One man in plainclothes also repeatedly threatened Mazlan with violence, but Rafizi kept him at bay until Pakatan Rakyat party workers took him aside.

“If you ask me, my suspicion is that he is Indonesian. He sounds like an Indonesian from Sabah,” Rafizi told reporters, after allowing Mazlan to leave quietly.

He also calmed his supporters by saying that Mazlan had already voted, and it is better to remain vigilant in preventing fraud than to allow 10 phantom voters slip through while they argue over Mazlan.