[3 June, Port Dickson] Party KeADILan Nasional today expressed its disappointment at the Election Commission (SPR) and questioned its motive for keeping silent on abuses of power by politicians and police. Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor, Chief of Operations for KeADILan's campaign in the Teluk Kemang by-elections said in a press conference held at the Bilik Gerakan Utama Teluk Kemang, "SPR is being used as a tool of the government, to protect the interests of the ruling party." He outlined three instances of irregularities. The first being missing names in the electoral roll used in the by-elections. "We have found more than 1000 names missing and we have proof that their names have been transferred to as far as Selangor and Melaka, without consent or knowledge of the voters. The voters who are affected by this are those who openly support KeADILan." "This is a politically motivated move and SPR is responsible for this gross meddling."

The second issue is the large number of postal votes in the parliamentary seat where there are more than 5,000 postal votes. KeADILan had met with the SPR and demanded for transparency in voting, storing and counting. However the demands have been rejected on unreasonable grounds by the SPR, with excuses such as security. "Even high-ranking army officers regard this justification by SPR as baseless, especially since security has never been a concern. We demand our rights to be in the military camps when they cast their votes," said Mohd Ezam. Mohd Ezam also said that they have received numerous complaints from army personnel that their votes are not secret. "That is why there is an unusually high rate of spoilt votes."

The third concern of KeADILan is the overwhelming presence of police and FRU in Teluk Kemang. "Water cannons now parade around the areas, together with FRU officers in full gear. There are increasing number of mysterious police road blocks have been put up; not unlike a police state. SPR should tell the police not to be used by politicians. The police and FRU are here to frighten the voters," said Mohd Ezam." Cynthia Gabriel, director of leading human rights organisation, SUARAM, who was present at the press conference, agreed. " Teluk Kemang now looks like a town under siege and emergency rule. This reflects a sense of insecurity on the part of the government. What I have observed so far have been things done to instill fear. This is extremely irregular and is a blatant abuse of power by the Barisan Nasional." "Furthermore, there have been reports of FRU and police engulfing opposition public talks or ceramahs. Ordinary kampung folks have been frightened to not turn up due to the present of security personnel. The government is using the police to deter people from attending opposition functions." "The police cannot be here to serve Mahathir or Badawi, and especially not the BN candidate; their actions must be neutral, otherwise they should just go back to their respective barracks," she added.

On the issue of Badawi's accusation that KeADILan are using students, Mohd Ezam said,"Badawi is insulting the intelligence of our students. This allegation is extreme and baseless. They may come here to support BA or they may even come here to support BN." "What Badawi has done is effectively accuse and threaten the students without proof; this is unfair to all our students who can think for themselves. Most of them are over 21 years of age and they can vote. But Badawi acts to curb their rights to freedom of expression" "This is aggravated by newspapers reports such as in Utusan. Anyone can pose as students, even BN election workers. Why is it Utusan doesn't dare to publish the names of the students?" Mohd Ezam concluded by challenging the SPR to state its stand on these issues. "The SPR must take an independent role, not just serve the ruling party. We also want to know their stand on corruption by politicians such as the rampant use of government facilities, government machineries, government money in the campaign. The millions of ringgit which have suddenly been promised to voters is tantamount to bribery." [END]