Early voting

Lawyer Chen Kok On : Early Voting

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• published: 03 May 2013
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2013-4-30 I was told that police personnel who were voting today,for Undi Awal,were asked to fill in a so-called Attendance Form,to record their police card numbers,BEFORE they went to vote. 1st,i went to Police HQ at Mile 1 1/2,to see for myself.A table was set at the corner of the canteen.Nobody stopped me from approaching the table. When asked,the persons who were stationed at table said they were asked to do so bcos they needed to take attendance. I said,why was it necessary to do so,since u could just cross out the names of those who went in to vote! I complained that by taking the so-called attendance,it would be possible to know who got the 1st ballot paper,and the next,and so on. Eg. If ballot papers for that day started with serial number 1201,the 16th name on the Attendance List would be getting ballot paper serial number 1216.So,it would be possible to trace,going by serial numbers read together with the sequence on the Attendance List,the voter voted for whom.Voting is no longer secret. And i understand that even SPR officers are prohibited from recording the serial numbers of the ballot papers issued to a particular voter!If that is the case,this Attendance List would be able to identify,indirectly,who got which ballot paper,and therefore voted for who! So,i requested the persons to cease recording immediately,and to tell me who directed them to do so.They told me to look for ASP Cheah,a lady. ASP Cheah then told me that she didn't know who gave her direction to do so,but promised they will cease the recording immediately. I then went to Town Police Station.Same practice was happening!Same excuse was given.And they refused to stop,even after i told them to. So,i called the Returning Officer for Sandakan,Hj Hamsan,Deputy President of Majlis Perbandaran Sandakan,to come and stop it.He came with Puan Sapiah and an officer from SPR. However,Hamsan shouted at me for taking pictures of the place,and insisted i delete the pictures taken.He said i was not allowed to take picture within 50m of polling station.He was very angry at me,said i should not be doing this,as a lawyer i should know it's prohibited. To me,even if there was such a rule,i should be allowed to take evidence for a crime-in this case,an offence under Election rules.There should be an exception to this rule-or else people can commit all sorts of offences inside this 50m.This should be common sense enough. In any event,this place was at the ground floor of the police station-just like the one at Mile 1 1/2,where the table was placed at the canteen!-so how would i know where was the polling station??Nobody stopped me when entering the area either. Anyway,i knew Hamsan might try to punish the messenger,so i left the station immediately,to pass all the evidence and the message to as many people as possible. I hope SPR will act impartially.The process must be SEEN to be fair!! If what they did-in "taking attendance"-is nothing wrong,why should Hamsan insist that i DELETE all the pictures?? It is not that i want to be a hero or anything.Haris Ibrahim once said to me,in KK,that if,as a lawyer and i know the law,and know that what i was doing was not illegal,why should i be afraid? And if,as a lawyer,even i am afraid,then lay people would be even more afraid,seeing that even lawyers are afraid of doing the right thing! If everyone is doing his job, including Police and SPR, then there would be absolutely no need for 'hero'. Doesn't matter who wins in the end-so long as it's the true will of the people.All i want is that everybody plays FAIR,including the SPR.Why is that wrong?Is that too much to ask for? Chen Kok On Sandakan