Anwar Ibrahim today denied making any claims that there were 40,000 Bangladeshi voters during the 13 th general election
KUALA LUMPUR: Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim today denied making claims about the 40,000 Bangladeshi phantom voters in the 13 th general election, saying that the statement was put in his mouth by his political opponents.
He said Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak misled the public in his Budget 2014 speech by saying that the opposition’s claims were untrue; whereas there were no such claims in the first place.
“We have checked our statements; we have never made such claims before,” he said during the media conference at the Parliament’s lobby today.
“This is a spin by Umno blogger; who ever said there were 40,000 Bangladeshis?” he added.
In announcing the Budget 2014 last month, Najib jibed Pakatan to “ask for forgiveness from god” for making the supposed wild allegation about the Bangladeshi voters.
“Until today, no one has even seen them or their shadow. Enough of the lies,” Najib said.
In reply, Anwar said his statement was that there are foreign nationals; as well as from Sabah and Sarawak who were flown in to the Peninsular to vote.
“Besides, the election commission chairman Abdul Aziz Yusof has said there were 62,000 dubious voters in the electoral roll.
“Thirdly, after the advanced voting process, I have said with proofs that foreign nationals from India, Bangladesh, Philippines and Indonesia were allowed to vote.
“My question was how did people with these nationalities made as advanced voters?” he said.
Anwar also chided Najib for dragging the Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina into the picture during the premier’s recent visit to Bangladesh.
“He asked the Bangladesh PM to say there is no Bangladeshi voters. But this is a domestic affair, how would she know?” he said.
He further said an independent commission should have been set up to verify the claims, since the EC has lost its credibility.
No foreigners on election day
Election watchdog Bersih, had mobilised thousands of Malaysians to rally for clean elections in the past; slammed the EC prior to the May 5 polls for not having done enough to address the issue.
“You can’t trust the EC as the referee, as the referee is keeping silent about this,” Bersih co-chairman Ambiga Sreenevasan had said then.
“We know this is happening because the government has a history of giving foreigners citizenships for votes,” she was quoted by news reports.
This was subsequently picked up by the opposition which had urged its supporters to be on a lookout for foreign-looking voters at polling stations around the country on voting day.
During polling, several people were hauled up by opposition supporters but they all turned out to be Malaysian citizens with foreign parentage.
After the polls, Anwar called for a rally at the Kelana Jaya sports complex and vowed a ‘fierce’ campaign for electoral reform and said he would soon produce evidence of fraud by what he called an ‘illegitimate’ government.
He said the election was stolen via “unprecedented electoral fraud.”
Anwar had alleged a government scheme to fly tens of thousands of ‘dubious’ and possibly foreign voters to flood key constituencies.
A report released a few days after the polls by two independent watchdogs said the polls were marred by pro-government bias and irregularities that indicate “serious flaws” in the electoral system.
The Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs and Centre for Public Policy Studies cited concerns including partisan use of government machinery, pro-government media bias and doubts over the integrity of voter rolls.
The election was “only partially free and not fair”, the report said. It did not mention of any foreign voters, voting in the 13th general election.
KUALA LUMPUR: Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim today denied making claims about the 40,000 Bangladeshi phantom voters in the 13 th general election, saying that the statement was put in his mouth by his political opponents.He said Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak misled the public in his Budget 2014 speech by saying that the opposition’s claims were untrue; whereas there were no such claims in the first place.
“We have checked our statements; we have never made such claims before,” he said during the media conference at the Parliament’s lobby today.
“This is a spin by Umno blogger; who ever said there were 40,000 Bangladeshis?” he added.
In announcing the Budget 2014 last month, Najib jibed Pakatan to “ask for forgiveness from god” for making the supposed wild allegation about the Bangladeshi voters.
“Until today, no one has even seen them or their shadow. Enough of the lies,” Najib said.
In reply, Anwar said his statement was that there are foreign nationals; as well as from Sabah and Sarawak who were flown in to the Peninsular to vote.
“Besides, the election commission chairman Abdul Aziz Yusof has said there were 62,000 dubious voters in the electoral roll.
“Thirdly, after the advanced voting process, I have said with proofs that foreign nationals from India, Bangladesh, Philippines and Indonesia were allowed to vote.
“My question was how did people with these nationalities made as advanced voters?” he said.
Anwar also chided Najib for dragging the Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina into the picture during the premier’s recent visit to Bangladesh.
“He asked the Bangladesh PM to say there is no Bangladeshi voters. But this is a domestic affair, how would she know?” he said.
He further said an independent commission should have been set up to verify the claims, since the EC has lost its credibility.
No foreigners on election day
Election watchdog Bersih, had mobilised thousands of Malaysians to rally for clean elections in the past; slammed the EC prior to the May 5 polls for not having done enough to address the issue.
“You can’t trust the EC as the referee, as the referee is keeping silent about this,” Bersih co-chairman Ambiga Sreenevasan had said then.
“We know this is happening because the government has a history of giving foreigners citizenships for votes,” she was quoted by news reports.
This was subsequently picked up by the opposition which had urged its supporters to be on a lookout for foreign-looking voters at polling stations around the country on voting day.
During polling, several people were hauled up by opposition supporters but they all turned out to be Malaysian citizens with foreign parentage.
After the polls, Anwar called for a rally at the Kelana Jaya sports complex and vowed a ‘fierce’ campaign for electoral reform and said he would soon produce evidence of fraud by what he called an ‘illegitimate’ government.
He said the election was stolen via “unprecedented electoral fraud.”
Anwar had alleged a government scheme to fly tens of thousands of ‘dubious’ and possibly foreign voters to flood key constituencies.
A report released a few days after the polls by two independent watchdogs said the polls were marred by pro-government bias and irregularities that indicate “serious flaws” in the electoral system.
The Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs and Centre for Public Policy Studies cited concerns including partisan use of government machinery, pro-government media bias and doubts over the integrity of voter rolls.
The election was “only partially free and not fair”, the report said. It did not mention of any foreign voters, voting in the 13th general election.
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