Election Offences Amendment Bill should be withdrawn from second reading  and referred to an all-party Select Committee to conduct public hearings on how best to curb electoral malpractices, whether phantom voters or the 3Ms electoral abuses of money, media and government machinery

(Petaling Jaya, Thursday): The storm of controversy over phantom voters on the electoral register after the Pendang and Anak Bukit by-elections in Kedah have proven that Parliament was short-sighted and wrong in passing the Elections Amendment Bill  in March this year which, among other things, made the electoral roll “final and binding” which cannot be questioned, challenged or quashed by any court of law. 

All political parties, whether Barisan Nasional, Barisan Alternative and DAP are unanimous in agreement that the electoral roll is faulty, dishonest and full of phantom voters – whether “illegal immigrant”, “imported” or “the dead” – but it is Parliament through its Election Amendment Bill in March which had not only legalises  these “phantom voters” but placed their  “phantom” status beyond any legal challenge – an outrageous piece of myopic legislation. 

This should be a salutary lesson and eye-opener to all MPs when Parliament reconvenes on Monday. According to the Parliamentary Order of Business, the second bill on the parliamentary agenda is the Election Offences Amendment Bill – scheduling it for debate on Tuesday and possibly even on Monday. 

MPs should not repeat the disastrous  mistake of enacting  another piece of myopic legislation in the form of  the Election Offences Amendment Bill, which has many new-fangled and undemocratic  provisions which have nothing to do with ensuring the conduct of free, fair and clean elections.

The Election Offences Amendment Bill should be withdrawn from second reading  in Parliament and referred to an all-party Select Committee to conduct public hearings on how best to curb electoral malpractices, whether phantom voters or the 3Ms electoral abuses of money, media and government machinery. 

The Election Offences Amendment Bill should among other things, make it an offence for a person to fraudulently register as a voter in a constituency where he or she has no residential or work connections, which will go a long way to eliminate the “imported phantom voters” menace which had been rampant for two decades.

(5/9/2002)