Incident-free GE15 in Sabah — Police

KOTA KINABALU: The just concluded 15th General Election (GE15) went smoothly without any incident reported in the state, said Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Idris Abdullah.

Although there were delays in transporting ballot boxes to voting centers due to bad weather and the use of helicopters was difficult, said Idris in a statement yesterday.

He said throughout the campaign period until the day of polling, Sabah police had received 133 police reports and opened 40 investigation papers.

Overall, Idris said he was satisfied with the security situation in Sabah and thanked all parties involved in maintaining peace and security which allowed the rakyat to exercise their responsibility in GE15.

Meanwhile, the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) has opened 219 investigation papers and detained five individuals, four in Negeri Sembilan and one in Selangor, for various election offences committed during polling day, on Saturday.

PDRM GE15 operations director Datuk Seri Hazani Ghazali said the three individuals, namely two in Seremban and one in Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan arrested under Section 8 of the Explosives Act 1957.

“In an incident in Seremban, two men were held for setting off firecrackers outside the Tuanku Mambau Club Public Hall at 7.45 pm, while in Port Dickson, a man was arrested for a similar offence in front of the District Administration Complex.

“An individual was arrested in Seremban under Section 186 of the Penal Code and Section 26 (1) of the Election Offences Act 1954 for obstructing civil servants from carrying out their duties and being near the vote counting area at Seremban Town Hall,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Meanwhile, in Selangor, Hazani said a man was detained for causing chaos by dropping ballot boxes in the polling station at Sekolah Kebangsaan Yam Lama during the voting process.

“However, the ballot box at polling stream 3 was not damaged and the man was arrested under Section 3 (1) of the Election Offences Act 1954 and Section 14 (A) of the Minor Offences Act 1955,” he said.

Hazani, who is also Bukit Aman Internal Security and Public Order Department director, said a total of 501 investigation papers were opened pertaining to election offences nationwide from Nov 4 to 19