Ongkili chairing the PBS Supreme Council meeting at its headquarters in Donggongon, Penampang, today.
PENAMPANG: Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) has called on the Election Commission (EC) to give a briefing to Sabah’s Members of Parliament (MPs) and assemblymen on the automatic registration for 18-year-olds into the electoral roll.
Making the call following rhe unanimous decision made during the party’s Supreme Council meeting at its headquarters in Donggongon here today, its President, Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili said PBS stands firm with its previous decision on this matter.
“We stand firm with our previous decision that, while we welcome the registration of 18-year-olds as voters, we strongly disagree that it is done automatically, considering the polluted electoral roll in Sabah, as proven in the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) report on the large presence of illegal immigrants in state.
“As such, we want EC to brief us (Sabah MPs and assemblymen) on what are their precautionary steps to ensure that only genuine Sabahans are registered as voters,” Ongkili stressed, in a statement.
Referring to the polluted electoral roll in Sabah, he said there has been evidence, as stated in the RCI report, on the existence of phantom voters, mostly holders of genuine identification cards obtained through dubious manners.
“It is important to clean up our electoral roll of these phantom voters. As much as we want more young voters to take part as decision makers, we do not want the numbers to breed unhealthily,” said Ongkili, who is also the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Sabah and Sarawak Affairs).
The Kota Marudu Member of Parliament said PBS had also been trying to secure appointments to discuss the matter further with the Federal and State EC, but no dates have been given, as yet.
“We hope the EC will call for the briefing soon and provide us with their assurance that the electoral roll is cleaned up before the next election,” he said.
