Umno Youth has filed a police report against Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) vice-president Sivarasa Rasiah for allegedly inciting voters to boycott this Sunday's Batu Talam by-election.

According to a Bernama report, Sivarasa had allegedly made such remarks during a ceramah at a PAS branch in the constituency on the night of Jan 23.

The report was filed by Umno Youth treasurer Ab Hamid Mohd Nazahar with the Raub police station this morning.

"We have filed this report so that the police can take action against the opposition," he was quoted as saying.

The opposition are boycotting the by-election in order to press for electoral reforms. The contest is now between Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Abdul Aziz Kiram and independent Ng Chee Pang.

Not an offence

Commenting on the police report, Sivarasa said he was curious as to why the police report was directed at him, when other ceramah speakers said the same thing.

"Anyone can lodge a police report, but any meaningful police report would disclose a kind of offence, and its not an offence under the law to do what I did - i.e. to ask voters to support the PAS boycott of the Batu Talam by-election for the reason that there are too many irregularities and unfairness in the election process.

"PKR supports the PAS boycott and will continue to explain this position to the voters of Batu Talam. We would also ask Umno Youth to have a better look at the law and understand the legal provisions better," he added when contacted.

Explaining the law in question, Sivarasa, who is a lawyer by training, said it is an offence under Section 4(a) of Election Offenses Act 1954 to use racial sentiments to induce people to vote or not to vote for a particular candidate.

"Umno Youth seems to have clearly misunderstood Section 4(a) of the Elections Offenses Act to mean that it is an offence when someone calls for a boycott.

"That section was intended to prevent a person from using racial sentiments to induce voters to vote or not vote for a particular candidate along racial lines," he added.

In other words, he said, an Umno campaign towards Malay voters not to vote for a Chinese candidate will be an offence under the section.

"However, my statement towards the voters to support the boycott is not an offence under this section," he stressed.