KOTA KINABALU: DAP Sabah has suggested that the Election Commission (EC) use finger prints reader machines in future elections in the country.
The party’s Kepayan branch chief, Stephen Jacob Jimbangan, said the EC should seriously consider the proposal and implement it in the coming general election to ensure a clean and fair polls.
“If the EC is not going to adopt a fair and clean election system, then it is at fault and will no longer be credible and trustworthy,” he said yesterday.
Jimbangan said during past elections, there had been instances where the EC had faced with the problems verifying and identifying the true identities of eligible voters.
In previous elections, whether it was a by-election, a state or a general election, there had been numerous allegations of the existence of “phantom voters” who had used fake identity cards or other people’s identity cards and even photostat copies of MyKads to cast their votes.
“We found many (phantom voters) who had even voted many times over in different streams at the same polling centre. We also found names of voters who had already passed away a long time ago but still listed in the electoral rolls,” he said in a statement.
Jimbangan said enforcing the use of finger prints reader machines will ensure that only genuine Malaysian citizens are allowed to cast their votes in the election.
He said finger prints reader machines are readily available in the market at a very low price and they are commonly used by most banks.
“Why can’t the EC equip itself with the finger prints reader machines in every polling centre to enable the voters to be checked correctly and to screen voters using dubious MyKad?
“It is easy to install the computers with a program to verify the identity of a person using his or her finger prints and other personal details in their respective MyKads,” Jimbangan added.