Why police presence at EC public hearing, asks DAP

Sarawak DAP has accused the Election Commission (EC) of breaking its rigid “closed door” rule in the public objections to its proposed redrawing of the electoral boundary in Miri with the presence of four police personnel, believed to be from the Special Branch Unit.

DAP Senadin branch chairperson, Eunice Lim questioned why the cops were allowed to take part but barred the public and media from the series of hearings in Kuching and other major towns in the state.

“Why were the SB officers allowed inside the hearing?” she asked.

“Their presence create a sort of fear to those who were making their presentation,” Lim said, referring to an incident last Thursday.

“I did not realise their presence when I was making my presentation,” she said.

“We only came to know about it when my colleague (Piasau assemblyman Alan Ling) spotted the officers sitting with the EC officers before making his own presentation.”

Lim said when Ling asked the EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof on the matter, he appeared, "from his body language, to be quite surprised".

She claimed that what was more surprising was when the EC chairman replied: "What's wrong with that?”, implying that the four were indeed police officers.

Ling then posted the matter on his Facebook page and further stated that with the police presence, the EC should also allowed the public to listen to the inquiry.

“So my question now is, what is wrong with allowing the public to come in and hear the inquiry?

“Is this a form of intimidation towards the presenters? The whole proceeding is not friendly at all," he said.

Meanwhile, following this incident, Lim said her elected colleagues to Parliament and the state legislative assembly would raise the matter in the two legislatures for answers.

The Parliament convenes next week while the state legislature is expected to sit in May. – March 7, 2015.