PKR LEADER CALLS TO HALT JULAU POLLS
Denial syndrome by PKR top body akin to BN’s behaviour, says Latheefa Koya
PKR central committee member Latheefa Koya has urged the party to immediately suspend voting in the Julau division of Sarawak yesterday.
She said the issue of the sudden surge in membership in the division should be investigated fully and not “whitewashed”.
She also lambasted the party’s approval of the membership spike as tantamount to “legitimisation of fraud”.
Latheefa slammed the statement by PKR communications director Fahmi Fadzil, who was quoted as saying that the party’s political bureau had approved the membership roll.
“This statement is nothing less than an attempt by PKR’s highest decision-making body to whitewash the controversial Julau membership issue.
“We know that some political bureau members had raised serious concerns over this, but the approval was bulldozed through.
“If the increase in membership is legitimate, as claimed by the PKR political bureau, then why have so many people complained that their names have been added to the Julau membership roll without their consent?” she said yesterday.
The Julau PKR membership roll was reported to have increased from 603 to 13,000 overnight on June 26. Latheefa, however, claimed that the number had actually increased from a mere 66 to 13,178.
“It is also astonishing that the PKR political bureau saw nothing unusual in the fact that 30 PKR divisions in Sarawak have only 9,691 members in total, whereas the single Julau division suddenly has 13,178 members,”
She alleged that there were two versions of the circular No. 4/2018 dated June 27, signed by the party secretary-general, which tabulated the final number of approved members.
“In the first version, Julau shows a membership of 66 only. In the second version, Julau is shown to have 13,178 members. What is the explanation for these two versions and what is the real number in the Julau division?
“The PKR secretary-general’s response (on Thursday) that the first circular is a ‘mistake’ strains credulity in view of the circumstances, including complaints by people that they have been registered without consent.”
She also noted that the membership list was perplexing as it included names of Meluan assemblyman Rolland Duat Jubin from Gabungan Parti Sarawak.
She also criticised PKR’s alleged move to overlook evidence of fraud in the statutory declaration on Oct 17 by Sarawak PKR information chief Vernon Kedit.
Latheefa said it was outrageous for PKR secretary-general Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail to insist that no objections had been raised against the list.
“This denial syndrome smacks of the usual behaviour of Barisan Nasional. The way PKR’s election is conducted is even worse than the way the BN-era Election Commission used to conduct elections.”
PKR strategic communications director Fahmi Fadzil said the Julau division had never submitted any complaints on its membership roll.
He said there had been no breach of process because all divisions were given time from June 27 to July 17 to submit objections over the membership list.
“In that period, no objections were submitted. So why is it only now that we are seeing protests? This process is wrong,” he said.
PKR central election committee chief secretariat Ismail Yusop said the Julau division had been informed beforehand of applications by new members.
“If there are any doubts, then that is something that the division has to resolve with the secretary-general’s office,” he said.