The EC is at it again-warning the public not to query its voters registration where the IC of the voters bear the code no `71′ meant to denote foreign born persons. This has been notorious due to common suspicion that the foreign born persons were given fast-track citizenship and voting rights to boost the chances of the ruling party. Such political intervention, if proven, would have defrauded the elections from the time such practices had been suspected to have cause otherwise inexplicable explosion/doubling of Sabah’s population since 1990. The EC should open their books-together with the JPN, to show that there are no hanky panky in approving these new citizens and voters rather than trying in vain to ask people to look the other way! The citizens are not like civil servants who are bound to take orders from their superiors-causing them to be taken advantage of by politicians who pressure them to support these crooks politically eg attend the gatherings for these politicians where otherwise there would not be any attendants. The EC and JPN should open their books on citizens with `71′ on their ID rather than do more `look the other way’ shouting!
EC: Don’t dispute voters registration using code ’71′
by Sandra Sokial. Posted on August 9, 2012, Thursday
KOTA KINABALU: The Election Commission (EC) yesterday denied that many foreign workers have been included in the electoral rolls using the identification code of ’71′ which referred to Malaysians born overseas.
Its chairman, Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Yusof, said the matter should not have been disputed as to date only 171,023 registered voters were recorded having identification cards with that code.
Before 2001, code ’71′ was used for Malaysians born abroad and foreigners who had obtained permanent resident status.
However, after 2001, all foreigners who obtained PR were no longer referred with code ’71′ and were in fact using the code for their respective country of birth, such as 66 for Singapore and 61 for Indonesia, he told reporters after launching the ‘EC meets political party leaders and the media session’ here yesterday
Abdul Aziz commented on the matter after certain quarters disputed the use of code ’71′ purportedly to register foreign workers as voters after several names with code ’71′ as the middle number of their identification cards were detected on the electoral rolls.
He said that according to the EC’s master electoral rolls, there were 8,743 registered voters in Sabah and the Federal Territory of Labuan with code ’71′ and Selangor recorded the highest number with 32,485 people.
He added that there had also been requests from voters working in other states in Malaysia to cast their votes in the place they are currently in, for their state, but it is not possible.
“It will be a precedent. Others may make the same request and it would create another problem.
“Besides, it is normal to see many Sabahans or people from other states to be in places like Selangor, as they migrate to seek employment,” he said.
Abdul Aziz explained that for one to continue practising their rights as voters, they may change to their current address.
He also said there was always doubt on the electoral roll despite EC’s daily effort to ‘clean’ it.
“Some claim it is ‘dirty’, but I can assure it is clean. There may be some technical problems, but we will not let it compromise any condition. We too want it to be 100 per cent clean, but how can you do it when a minute later, someone dies or changes his citizenship, this thing is dynamic and change can happen within seconds.
“But there is not much we (EC) can do without the cooperation from the people. EC is bound by the law, we cannot simply make any changes without the request of the owner,” he said.
“We conduct our meeting on a monthly basis and every month, a lot of corrections are done. As of June this year, a total of 2,919 corrections were made, and locality tops the list, followed by names, gender and religion,” he said..
Abdul Aziz added that in the first quarter of this year, a total of 18,412 mistakes were detected, and the number grew during the second quarter to 27,785.
He said it was also beyond their jurisdiction to delete the names of aging voters.
“We cannot classify them as doubtful voters or inactive citizens, unless someone comes and reports to NRD that they have passed away or have changed their citizenship. Meaning, for as long as their names are in NRD, we cannot delete their names and they have the right to vote. Mind you, the oldest voter is from Sabah at the age of 129, followed by a Sarawakian,” he said.
Last year, he disclosed that a total of 68,516 names were deleted after they had been declared deceased by NRD.
He also urged registered voters to check their voting details and status within the third quarter of this year to be eligible to vote in the coming 13th general election.
“Voters must fully utilise the months of July, August and September to check that their details are correct, such as the spelling of their names, locality, gender and identity card numbers.
“If there is any mistake, correction can be done at the National Registration Department and notify the EC immediately for rectification,” he said.
He disclosed that there are four easy methods to check their status and details, namely through their website at http://www.spr.gov.my, or short messaging system by typing spr(space)semak(space)MyKad number, or visit or contact their headquarters or offices at the respective states.
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