Amid massive vote cheating, Pakatan falters in denying BN two-thirds seats

Massive electoral fraud marred the Sarawak elections, wiping out the initial huge gains made by Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim and his Pakatan Rakyat coalition on Saturday.
“For sure, they doctored the numbers at the end. We had to fight off the dirtiest vote rigging and vote buying ever, not to mention the sudden swell in postal votes,” PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli told Malaysia Chronicle.
Indeed, signs were clear that Sarawak’s corruption-tainted Chief Minister Taib Mahmud was not about to let go of the state he had controlled for years despite the obvious public distaste for his leadership. Defiantly, he travelled to the polling centre to cast his vote in his favorite silver Rolls Royce.
Even Prime Minister Najib Razak, who had hoped to win some shine off a BN victory, was shunned by the crowds during the week he spent trying to help Taib fend off the Pakatan.
But it was impossible for Najib and Taib to allow a loss to happen. Both have too much to lose, especially the federal leader whose premiership and presidency of the ruling Umno party is at stake after a series of political mis-steps.

Because only 71 seats are involved and an election period of just 10 days was given, the two scandal-tainted leaders were able to pull off what Pakatan leaders say was the darkest blot on Malaysian history.
“Sarawak is a sad enough state with its history of oppression. That those entrusted to lead her have abused her makes it even worse. It is hard to see public confidence rising in Malaysia again especially from people overseas,” PKR vice president Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.
“It is not just about the economy and FDI although those are important, but people can see the obvious corruption and they can see that those who robbed and plundered can continue to be given the green light to do so in this country."
The magical two-thirds
Counting of the votes is still on-going and will take a few hours more but already Taib is declaring victory for 55 seats, which will enable him to maintain a crucial two-thirds majority in the state Parliament. This is the magic number that allows BN leaders to unilaterally hammer in laws to benefit and protect themselves.
PKR has declared victory for 3 seats – Batu Lintang, Krian and Ba’Kelalan.  They are awaiting a recount on two seats Senadin and Kakus. DAP has won 12 seats.
“We won 12 and that's not so bad but we had hoped for 15,” DAP MP for Bukit Bendera Liew Chin Tong told Malaysia Chronicle.
PAS has been forced to concede defeat in all 5 seats despite coming close to victory.
This means the best that Pakatan would have is 17 seats and and the least 15. But despite the groaning, it is actually a huge improvement over 2006 where DAP won 6 seats and PKR 1.
“Obviously we are very disappointed. The support from the crowd was fantastic, ask the media. And we did lead in the votes, but what happened between the early results and later on when they started to refuse to give us the Borang 14,” said Rafizi.
However, not all Pakatan leaders were as disappointed.
"It's the beginning of the Kenyalang Revolution," said DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang.
A clear lack of ethics
Of the 1,749 polling centres, about 1,038 closed early at around 1pm. Counting began and the intial Form 14 which officially states the count from each of the polling streams showed the PKR leading in at least 8 seats. At one point, it even led in 20.
But soon, the Election Commission started to refuse giving out the Form 14 anymore, spurring party lawyer and Subang MP Sivarasa Rasiah to issue a statement.
“Pakatan has received reports of Election Commission presiding officers in charge of voting streams refusing to give a copy of the signed Borang 14 verifying the result of that voting stream to the agent of the Pakatan candidate present. This has already been reported in N21 Simunjan and N14 Asajaya,” said Sivarasa.
“Any refusal to give the Borang 14 is tantamount to a deliberate move to create a fraudulent result. Pakatan wishes to warn the SPR to take immediate action against such officials and ensure that such illegal actions are not repeated today. Pakatan has received reports of SPR presiding officers in charge of voting streams refusing to give a copy of the signed Borang 14 verifying the result of that voting stream to the agent of the Pakatan candidate present. This has already been reported in N21 Simunjan and N14 Asajaya."
The purpose of the Borang 14 is to prevent any manipulation of the verified result. It is a mandatory requirement under Regulation 25(12(b)(ii) of the Elections ( Conduct of Elections) Regulations 1981 that the presiding officer must give a copy of the Borang 14 to the agent of the candidate present.  Section 4(g) of the Elections Offences Act 1954 provides that any breach of these provisions constitutes a criminal offence.
Giant beaters
Meanwhile, although the fizz was taken out of the election, DAP’s young Ling Sie Kiong has beaten SUPP president George Chan by a majority of thousands. Another SUPP stalwart Tiong Thai King also lost.
“If I were Pakatan, I wouldn’t be so disappointed. They have created a magic of their own. And I don’t think the message has been lost on anyone,” Ramon Navaratnam, past president of Transparency Malaysia International, told Malaysia Chronicle.
“If you look at just the numbers, it is actually a huge improvement. Sarawak is a big country and to be able to convince all her people in a 10-day campaign is quite a tall order. But it is still a good result compared to 2006.”