People’s choice: Voters waiting in line for their turn to cast their vote in the last general election. — MUHAMAD SHAHRIL ROSLI/The Star
PETALING JAYA: Three top enforcement agencies will be closely monitoring the coming state elections for any wrongdoing by political parties or their supporters.
They are the Election Commission (EC), the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), and the police.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain said police will keep a close watch for acts of corruption that may occur during the campaign period.
“It is part of our duty to monitor for such acts. However, cases that we discover will be referred to the MACC,” he told The Star.
Razarudin said the Elections Act will come into effect after nomination day and that the police will monitor political party campaigns together with local councils and the EC.
Sources said a special police team will be formed in every district to conduct surveillance and sniff out possible election offences.
Over 3,400 police reports were lodged over alleged offences during the 15th General Election in November last year, with more than a third of them in Kedah, Selangor and Pahang.
MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki said the main thing the MACC looks for is any form of bribery to voters in exchange for their support at the ballot box.
Section 10 (a) of the Election Offences Act 1954 (Revised 1969) is very clear, he said.
“Name it ‘sedekah’ (donation) or ‘contribution’, the law deems it a bribe paid to voters – regardless whether or not the voters solicit it,” he said.
Section 10 (a) defines in detail acts of bribery before, during and after elections. It does not matter whether the crime was committed by candidates or their representatives, he added.
An EC spokesman said it has always reminded candidates and political parties to curb excess spending in their campaigns.
“Candidates that don’t file their accounts of expenditure within the 31 days after the election results have been gazetted, can be barred from attending or voting in the Dewan Rakyat or state assemblies,” the spokesman said, referring to the requirement under Section 23 of the Election Offences act.
“They will also be barred from contesting in any election for a period of five years and they can also be charged in court.”
Datuk Akhbar Satar of the Malaysian Association of Certified Fraud Examiners said that despite the existence of laws on excessive spending, candidates continued to flout them due to poor enforcement.
Under Section 19 of the Election Offences Act (1954), the maximum spending limit for a candidate while contesting a state constituency seat is RM150,000 while for parliamentary seats it is RM200,000.
Under Section 8 of the same Act, candidates are not allowed to treat voters to feasts.
“Yet, we see this being done openly during elections with durian parties and such. No one stops these feasts for voters, which can also be interpreted as vote-buying,” Akhbar said.
He claimed that a majority of candidates also do not file their election expenditures after the results are gazetted but no action is taken against them.
“Once these candidates win elections, they become lawmakers, and yet they flout the laws openly – it is unethical on their part. The authorities too seem to let them go easily,” said Akhbar, who is also a former president of Transparency International-Malaysia.
