Some 400 names of voters are allegedly missing from the electoral roll for Lunas, Barisan Alternatif (BA) campaign manager Johari Abdul said in Lunas, Kedah, today.

He claimed that BA had sufficient proof that the missing names were not the result of a technical problem but a deliberate move.

He said that BA was carrying out its own investigations and the outcome would be announced later today by Keadilan Youth Chief Ezam Mohd Nor in Lunas.

"If the investigations prove that we are correct, we will take legal action and also make a police report immediately," said Johari.

"We urge the Elections Commission to do its own investigation as well because we consider this a very serious issue," he added.

Polling day for the Lunas by-election is only two days away. The three candidates are S Anthonysamy from Barisan Nasional (BN), Saifuddin Nasution Ismail from BA and independent S Letchumanan.

BA in show of solidarity

Squabbles between Keadilan and DAP pertaining to the choice of candidate for Lunas have been highlighted in the media over the past week with DAP leaders unhappy over the fact that their candidate S Neelamekan had been rejected.

Johari, however, said that the presence of DAP leaders in Lunas was a clear indication that the BA is stable, contrary to what had been portrayed in the media.

He also said the four presidents of BA's component parties - Keadilan, DAP, PAS and PRM - would attend a ceramah in Lunas tonight in a show of solidarity and to demonstrate that the coalition was very much intact.

Johari also said he regarded Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's comments regarding the Chinese community as a "sad episode in Malaysian history".

"As the Malays do not support him (Mahathir) anymore, he is trying to fish for sympathy from them by making negative and provocative statements about the Chinese," said Johari.

"As the Prime Minister, he has a duty to assure the people, especially non-Malays, to make them feel comfortable and safe in Malaysia, not incite fear in them," he added.

Chinese extremists

He said the recent claims made by the Prime Minister that the country would be unstable due to riots if BA came to power were totally baseless.

"The one who is actually worried is the Prime Minister himself," said Johari.

Mahathir was reported to have said in Utusan Malaysia yesterday that a certain segment of the Chinese community, whom he described as extremists, had forgotten the help the government extended to them during the last financial crisis and instead were now supporting the Opposition.

"We helped the Chinese so much before the last general elections; many Chinese businessmen would have become bankrupt if not for the government's aid," said Mahathir.

"We help them but this is what we get in return (from the Chinese extremists)," he told reporters after visiting flood-struck areas at his constituency, Kubang Pasu, in Jitra, Kedah yesterday.