Sabah RCI: Steep spike in voters on Sabah roll in 80s, 90

KOTA KINABALU: There was a huge spike in voters on the Sabah electoral roll in the 1982 and 1990 general elections and the 1994 state elections, compared to the respective previous elections, the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) on illegal immigrants in Sabah was told.

In 1982, the number of those eligible to vote surged by nearly 150,000 people compared the previous election in 1978.

In 1978, there were 208,861 eligible voters while in 1982 the number ballooned to 358,609 – an increase of 71.7 per cent.

“This is a very big increase,” RCI conducting officer Manoj Kurup remarked.

To this, witness Yusniati Ishak – who is the Election Commission (EC) Voters’ Registration Department secretary – said that she agreed.

EC data tendered as evidence to the RCI shows the bump in 1982 bucked the trend in Sabah where the number of eligible voters was on a decline between 1969 to 1978.

Haris Salleh from Berjaya was chief minister from 1976 until 1985, when he was replaced by PBS’ Joseph Pairin Kitingan.

The Sabah electoral roll continued to grow since then, with notable jumps in the 1990 and 1994 elections.

The number rose by 120,515 voters in 1990 compared to 1986, and by 103,107 voters in 1994 compared to 1990.

Pairin remained as chief minister until 1994, and was replaced by Sakaran Dandai of Umno in March 1994 after defections which caused the collapse of the PBS government.

On the fast track to citizenship
The RCI had also previously heard that there were two operations involving the mass issuance of blue identity cards (ICs) for immigrants – one from 1990 onwards, and another from late 1993 onwards.

Witnesses testified that the operations involved then aides to former Umno president Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Immigrants-turn-citizens who testified to having had been on the fast track to citizenship also told the RCI that they immediately registered as voters after receiving their ICs.

Asked by Manoj, Yusniati said that she does not know the reason for the surge as it is not her job to investigate the factors behind the statistics.

She added that she is not sure if another department had done that.
On a separate matter, the EC officer said that prior to 2002, when the Agency Link-up System (Alis) had been put to use, the EC did not have a mechanism to check if details in a voter registration form matched a valid identity card.

These details include the applicant’s address, which would determine where he or she would vote.

“(Before 2002,) an applicant filled in information into the form and testified to each information on the form.

“There was no mechanism to verify the information given with any other agency at that point,” she said.