17 army wives pulled from electoral roll

FRIDAY, MARCH 16, 2012 - 12:03
by Ram Anand (Malay Mail)

PETALING JAYA: A series of objections raised by DAP with the Election Commission (EC) over wives of army personnel being registered as postal voters has resulted in 17 out of the 33 objected names being removed from the postal electoral roll.

After a hearing at the Kuala Kubu Baru District Office recently, Kampung Tunku assemblyman Lau Weng San (pic) revealed an appeal would be filed by the DAP on the 16 other names.

"Our objections were effective because only 20 of the 33 wives of army personnel showed up for the hearing, which meant the rest were immediately removed from the electoral roll.

"Four among them who attended were found to have contradicting signatures to the ones that appeared in their application forms," he told a press conference at the DAP Selangor headquarters here yesterday.

Lau was responding to allegations by MCA Kuala Kubu Baru assemblyman Wong Kun Moon on his blog earlier this week that Pakatan Rakyat was wasting the people's resources and time by raising such objections.

He also criticised Wong's statement that the remaining 16 army personnel's wives should demand RM150 each in compensation from Pakatan Rakyat because of the inconvenience the hearing had caused them.

"It is given in the law that we are allowed to appeal. The registrar at the hearing had confirmed this. We will have an appeal heard by an adjudicating officer appointed by the EC. So, we are entitled to not pay them on the spot," Lau said.

According to EC regulations, each person against whom an objection is raised is entitled for not more than RM200 in compensation each, paid for by the complainant, if the registrar ruled out the objection.

DAP Hulu Selangor Parliament Liaison Committee (PLC) chief Ch'ng Boon Lai said the party did pay RM50 to each of those who attended the hearing that day.