PETALING JAYA, May 9th- The Barisan Nasional election machinery has perfected the art of cheating, according to Tian Chua, vice president of PKR and the MP for Batu.
He made the remark today to explain the defeat of Pakatan Rakyat candidates who had been expected to win because of their dynamism and the large voter support they appeared to enjoy.
Citing the victories of PKR’s Nurul Izzah Anwar in Lembah Pantai and DAP’s Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah, he said a Pakatan candidate would need an extraordinary large voter support and a perfectly tuned machinery to have any hope of overcoming the alleged cheating.
“In the case of Nurul Izzah, for example, the constituents and the machinery protected her and guarded the entire electoral process,” he told FMT.
He said Lim was similarly cushioned against attempts at electoral fraud.
“We are fighting against a corrupt system and the whole world is aware of this,” he added.
Nasir Hashim, the PSM candidate who lost in the three-way fight in Kota Damansara, said manipulative politics and character assassination were the main reasons for the defeat of strong candidates.
He said slanders tended to poison voters’ minds even if they were not backed by facts, especially if these were widely reported in the media. “The biased media is to blame as well,” he added.
As for his own defeat, Nasir said it was due to confusion caused by the opposition camp itself.
He said PAS had violated a gentlemen’s agreement among opposition parties by fielding a candidate against him, causing confusion among voters who supported Pakatan.
Nasir used the PKR logo to represent his candidacy.
“People were confused between the two Pakatan logos—PAS and PKR—and that caused votes to be split,” he said.
Nasir obtained 14,860 votes while the PAS’ Ridzuan Ismail obtained 7,312. Umno’s Halimaton Saadiah beat them by a majority of 1, 527.
