Media statement by Lim Guan Eng in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, 26^th April 2012: 

Malaysians should mobilise in full force for the Sit-in Bersih Protest on 2 pm 28 April 

The denial of the basic democratic principle of one-person, one-vote is another reason, apart from phantom voters and irregularities in the electoral roll, why Malaysians should mobilise in full force for the sit-in Bersih protest on 2pm 28 April 2012 at Dataran Merdeka to press for clean, free, fair and independent elections. Election watchdog NGO Tindak Malaysia, had provided irrefutable evidence that the Election Commission's (EC) biasedness towards BN by gerrymandering and manipulating electoral boundaries until a rural voter is effect worth an average of six urban voters, as BN is stronger in the rural areas.

According to Tindak Malayisa, BN won 112 out of the smallest 139 federal seats in Election 2008, giving it simple majority in Parliament with just 18.9 per cent of the popular vote. The seats have not been changed for the next general election. Where is the democratic principle of not just "one-person, one vote" but also majority rule when BN can win 50.4 per cent of Parliament with just 18.9 per cent of the votes?

In effect BN won 62 of the smallest seats with just 6.2 per cent of the popular vote with the smallest federal seat was Putrajaya, won by BN, with 6,008 voters, while Kapar, won by PKR, had over 112,000. Instead of majority rules, we have a case of minority rules which is a gross violation of representative democracy.

There is no point for the EC to waste money to print 5,000 copies of a special Malay information booklet to counter all allegations against the EC's faulty election process, when falsehoods can not prevail over facts. How can EC dismiss the issue of the over 42,000 'doubtful voters' in the current electoral roll where they are not citizens as confirmed by the Registration Department and the alleged over-registration of voters in one single address. The problem may be even worse than the 42,000 doubtful cases admitted by both the EC and Registration Department.

The Malaysian Electoral Roll Analysis Project (Merap) headed by noted political scientist Dr Ong Kian Ming, had identified approximately 3.4 million cases where further investigation needs to be conducted by the EC in order to verify the legitimacy of these voters because this is the pool of problematic registrations that currently tars the integrity and accuracy of the electoral roll. He cited 4 critical issues.

1. approximately 3.1 million voters were identified as potential non-resident voters by the National Registration Department (NRD) in 2002. This data was given by NRD to the Election Commission (EC) but no action was taken by the EC to assess the magnitude of this problem and to identify ways to rectify it.

2. using the EC's own data which lists the nationality or 'bangsa' of each voter, approximately 65,000 voters were identified as having foreign nationalities. Of these, close to 90 percent or 58,000 had IC numbers which indicate that they were born in Malaysia. In addition, approximately 49,000 of these voters came from one state alone - Sabah - which has a well-documented history where ICs were given to illegal immigrants in order to allow them to register as voters.

3. by comparing the electoral rolls in Quarter 4 (Q4) 2010 and Quarter 3 (Q3) 2011 and by cross-checking them with the quarterly updates in the first to third quarters in 2011, it was found that there were 106,743 voters removed from the electoral roll without public display and another 6,762 voters added to the electoral roll during the same period, also without public display.

4. important information provided by the EC in the Q1 to Q3 2011 quarterly roll updates such as the reasons for the deletion of names from the electoral roll were omitted in the Q4 2011 quarterly roll. This omission immediately raises concerns about the possibility of concealing important information by the EC in order to prevent detailed analysis from being conducted.

Further, the registration of foreigners as voters and the EC's unilateral move to correct the voting localities of some 19,000 voters by shifting voters around without their consent. Even Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim was a victim when he found his voting locality shifted from Selangor to Federal Territory.

Other complaints from critics include the allegedly unnatural spike in voter numbers in certain constituencies, the existence of over 100 voters registered to a single address, claims that foreigners have been given voting rights, the moving of voters from one locality to another, the registration of the spouses of armed forces personnel as postal voters, the sudden spike of voters in certain constituencies and the unusual number of voters who are more than 100 years old.

For these abuses by a politically inclined EC that has allowed itself to be used as a tool by BN, DAP fully supports and will mobilize its members for the Bersih sit-in protest for clean elections on 2pm 28 April 2012 nation-wide. DAP urges all Malaysians to join the Bersih rallies nation-wide, especially at Dataran Merdeka.

DAP strongly condemns the actions and warnings by the government, especially Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur, to ban this peaceful sit-in protest by instilling fear of untoward incidents. The use of fear tactics only betrays the real character of the BN government as dictatorial and tyrannical. As American President Thomas Jefferson said,

When a government fears the people, there is liberty;
When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.

The time has come to ensure a bright and clean future for our children free from fear. Only a clean election process untainted by abuses committed by the EC can give birth to clean leaders that give hope to all Malaysians.

*Lim Guan Eng, DAP Secretary General & MP for Bagan