KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 25 — While tracing ballot papers to their voters is theoretically possible, the process is very tedious and is not worth the effort, the National Patriots Association said today.
Its president Datuk Mohamed Arshad Raji sought to assure voters, especially those still in the security forces, that their “vote is a secret” and said that while the ballot papers have serialised numbers, it was a “messy and tedious” process.
“Theoretically it is possible to trace ballot papers to identify who cast a particular vote. This is because the ballot papers are serialised. The serial numbers have up to six digits. Any attempt to trace would be a very messy and a tedious exercise,” he said in a statement.
He explained that in order to find out the identity of the voter, one would have to sift through thousands of ballot papers from many boxes in an electoral constituency and match the serial numbers of the ballot papers with their counterfoils and check these against the numbers in the electoral register as well.
However, he stressed that to start the process, one would have to first obtain a court order to see the ballot papers kept by the Election Commission (EC) after an election.
“Tampering with ballot papers in sealed boxes after the election is illegal,” Mohamed Arshad said.
Brig Gen Arshad knows what he's talking about. BTW, in case you don't know, the word 'tedious' means 'long and tiresome', and the General has been spot on.
Its president Datuk Mohamed Arshad Raji sought to assure voters, especially those still in the security forces, that their “vote is a secret” and said that while the ballot papers have serialised numbers, it was a “messy and tedious” process.
“Theoretically it is possible to trace ballot papers to identify who cast a particular vote. This is because the ballot papers are serialised. The serial numbers have up to six digits. Any attempt to trace would be a very messy and a tedious exercise,” he said in a statement.
He explained that in order to find out the identity of the voter, one would have to sift through thousands of ballot papers from many boxes in an electoral constituency and match the serial numbers of the ballot papers with their counterfoils and check these against the numbers in the electoral register as well.
However, he stressed that to start the process, one would have to first obtain a court order to see the ballot papers kept by the Election Commission (EC) after an election.
“Tampering with ballot papers in sealed boxes after the election is illegal,” Mohamed Arshad said.
Brig Gen Arshad knows what he's talking about. BTW, in case you don't know, the word 'tedious' means 'long and tiresome', and the General has been spot on.
Say, if BN wins the election, do you think it will even bother to track down those in the military who voted against it.
Say, it loses the election - then it won't be in a position to do anything of that nature.
But as the general advised, the process of tracking down anti-BN voters among the military will be a long and tiresome process, and really, not worth the money nor the effort. The now-ruling party will either be celebrating or commiserating.
My Uncles who were in the military and police in 1969 told me about military and police officers voting against Perikatan (BN's predecessor) quite openly.
And we know what happened to Perikatan in 1969, and how Gerakan (then in the federal opposition) came to power in Penang, and how there was a deadlock in Selangor which lit the fire of May-13.
And we know what happened to Perikatan in 1969, and how Gerakan (then in the federal opposition) came to power in Penang, and how there was a deadlock in Selangor which lit the fire of May-13.
One example was in a particular KL camp where the Malay adjutant was jokingly (or seriously) encouraging Malay officers to vote for PAS and Chinese to vote for Gerakan in his office - of course we're talking about postal votes. The mood even among the military was decidedly anti-Perikatan.
Then there was even a MOU between PAS and the loose coalition of Gerakan, DAP and PPP to avoid 3-corner fights.
Do you believe that today, some if not most Malay military personnel won't vote for PAS or the few Chinese that are in the armed forces won't vote DAP, even by postal votes? And don't forget Major (TUDM) Zaidi, a PAS sympathiser who, after leaving the air force, joined PAS, then Amanah, then DAP, wakakaka.
I was told a different story by ex-servicemen.
ReplyDeleteIn some units, perhaps not all, rank and file were instructed to submit their ballot envelopes unsealed.
Since the Ballot serial numbers had already been recorded against their Service IDs, their vote was essentially not secret.
The theoretical safeguards mentioned by Arshad had already been circumvented eons ago.
It's the usual problem in Bolehland.
The theoretical system vs. Actual practice. The actual practice is usually much dirtier.