The Malaysian Insight

BOTH Warisan Plus and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) had embarked on vote-buying in the recent Sabah elections, said election watchdog Bersih 2.0.

The watchdog said both the pacts were involved in seven cases of vote-buying each in its monitoring of the polls.

It also said other parties or independent candidates were recorded with two cases of corrupt practice.

“It is obvious that money politics is still a big feature in the Sabah elections,” said Bersih 2.0 chairman Thomas Fann.

Bersih 2.0 today released its Sabah 16th state election observation report via an online press conference broadcasted live on Facebook.

The top misconduct was vote-buying, committed by almost all parties from before nomination day until voting day.

These reports were verified by Bersih 2.0 observers through interviews or online monitoring.

“From the Sabah report, we can see that, across the board, there is a sense of disrespect by these political candidates towards election law.

“The irony is that these candidates are contesting to be lawmakers, but they start by being lawbreakers.

“Regardless of which party they are from, if they break the law, do not vote for them,” Fann said, urging voters to evaluate the integrity of political candidates.

Fann himself witnessed an incident while on observer duty at the Bingkor polling station.

He had found the Perikatan Nasional (PN) ‘pondok panas’ outside SK Bingkor, Keningau, collecting voter cards given by the Election Commission (EC) and then giving them back with a slip containing a crossed-out logo of the coalition.

“I am not sure this ‘cooperation’ between the EC and the local political party was supposed to take place.

“It certainly gave the interpretation that the EC was endorsing this particular political party in that constituency.”

Fann said he directly complained to the EC with pictures and urged the EC to investigate on September 26.

In addition, he also found a long queue below a political office with a STAR party flag across the road of SK Bingkor. He suspected that money distribution had taken place after voting.

STAR is an ally of GRS, and its candidate won the seat in the polls.

“We saw a real compromise of the independence of the EC. Why is the political party doing the work of the EC? We would like an official response from the EC,” said Fann.

Bersih 2.0 will be submitting the report to the EC.

59 misconducts

The report stated that the corruption offences from Warisan Plus includes the former Sabah agriculture and food industry minister Junz Wong’s message on Facebook on September 4.

The post stated that if Warisan Plus wins in Sabah, then Wong would build a swiftlet nest house for YouTuber and university student Veveonah Mosibin’s family in Pitas.

Reports of rampant money distribution by different political parties in the villages and restaurants were also recorded, some with photo evidence.

“Misuse of government assets and resources was also rampant despite much criticism given by us in every election,” Bersih 2.0 stated in the report.

For example, the interim chief minister had used government assets to campaign and announced new allocations during the election period.

“Mohd Shafie Apdal handed over land grants to hundreds of villages in Beluran, Tawau and Kinabatangan.

“The same goes for the federal government. Although ministers still have to carry out their duties during the election, they cannot announce or give specific provisions to specific areas.

“On September 17, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yasin presented a replica cheque of assistance worth RM60 million to agricultural entrepreneurs and fishermen in a federal government event in Bandangan Square, Beaufort,” the report said.

Bersih 2.0 recorded a total of 59 election misconducts and errors from the Sabah polls.

Aside from vote-buying, the seven other issues which were mentioned were banquets and gift-giving, unwarranted pressure and undue government influence, use of government resources and assets, racist campaigns, biased behaviour of public officials, error on polling day and lastly, voter registration, postal votes and polling day issues.

“This is not a comprehensive report as we have only 26 election observers in the field and seven online observers, which covered 33 state seats.

“This is only a sampling as there was no way we could cover the entire election,” Fann said, adding that the group lacks the manpower to do so. – October 12, 2020.