EC: Alien-Vote Order Claim Nothing To Do With Us

ABDUL AZIZ: If it's true that immigrants were allowed to vote, then those in charge must explain as the move is against the lawKUALA LUMPUR: The Election Commission (EC) has no power over citizenship registration, its chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said today in the latest scorcher that illegal immigrants had been issued official documents enabling them to cast ballots in the 1994 Sabah polls. Abdul Aziz, who has been in office since December 31, 2008, pointed out that the alleged incident happened 19 years ago, but said that it would be against the law and called on those in charge to explain. A royal panel investigating the massive flood of illegals said to be swamping Malaysia’s easternmost state was yesterday told that a former deputy home minister ordered a National Registration Department (NRD) official to issue receipts to non-citizens that matched the names and identity card numbers of registered voters. "It is unfair for me to give comment on today's RCI revelation. "This case happened in 1994 and it has been more than 20 years since it happened. Whether true or not has yet to be established, in fact the accused is also no longer around," said Abdul Aziz, referring to the former deputy home minister, Tan Sri Megat Junid Megat Ayub, who died of prostate cancer in 2008. Abdul Aziz reiterated that his agency's task was only to register voters and that the EC cross-checks their citizenship based on the color – blue – of the ICs issued by the NRD. Legal immigrants in the country are issued red ICs. "Apart from that, I want to stress that the whole voter registration process will then be checked with the JPN and KDN," he said, referring to the NRD and the Home Ministry respectively by their Malay initials. Abdul Aziz said such action, if proven true, was against the law, adding that those in charge must explain. "If true that it happened in 1994, I absolutely disagree with such action. "EC today will not register any foreigner as a voter," he said, adding that he guaranteed it. A royal commission of inquiry (RCI) investigating the allegations is conducting a public hearing on the matter in Kota Kinabalu and has until March to wrap up investigations. Yesterday, former Sabah NRD director Ramli Kamarudin disclosed that Megat Junid had told him that the NRD receipts were to match the names and IC numbers of registered voters. "We gave them (immigrants) RM20," Ramli had said. "We teach them how to vote. We gather them in a house. We send them by bus to the polling stations. Then we send them back and we collect the receipts. The receipts are just for voting. We did not give them identity cards," he added. Ramli had said, about 200 NRD receipts were issued in five or six state constituencies each in Sabah that were considered "black spots that were difficult for the government to win." "One area maybe 400," he had said. About 28 per cent of Sabah's 3.2 million-strong population are foreigners, numbering at 889,000, based on a 2010 census. Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia's longest-serving prime minister, who was in power from 1981 to 2003, has been accused of spearheading the so-called "Project IC" in which citizenship was allegedly given to immigrants for their votes. But former Sabah Chief Minister Tan Sri Harris Salleh, who administered the state from 1976 to 1985, denied yesterday the existence of "Project IC". The citizenship-for-votes allegation is one of the key issues that has been raised in the run-up to Election 2013, which must be called by April when the ruling Barisan Nasional’s mandate expires. - Md Izwan / The Malaysian Insider