Malaysia: PAS Accused EC For Having Double Standard

PUTRAJAYA, MALAYSIA: Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) angrily denounced the Election Commission (EC) for having double standard as it said the accompanying statutory declaration must be stamped but withdrawn the requirement at last minute.

PAS vice president Mohamad Sabu tore the appeal letter in front of the conter in the EC headquarters in Putrajaya Monday (26 Feb) after his request to see the EC secretary was rejected.

Mohamad said that the EC sent an email to all parties at 1pm on Thursday (21 Feb), reminding them to have stamp duty on the statutory declaration for all candidates submitting their nomination papers despite the form specified stamp duty is exempted.

He said the next day was an off day for Kedah, Terengganu and Kelantan, but PAS still tried their best to stamp their statutory declarations. However, on the nomination day, they found that the statutory declarations of Barisan Nasional's (BN) candidates were not being stamped. So PAS protested.

He pointed out that the EC has issued a new instruction Saturday (23 Feb) that no stamp duty was required for Form 5A, just like the BN candidate for Marang did not stamp his statutory declaration. But the EC refused to show them the instruction letter when they protested.

He criticised it as an offence under the law and accused the EC of trying to embarrass the opposition party as PAS did not receive any instruction to withdraw the stamp duty.

He said the incident proved that the EC did not follow the rules and regulations, such as the unsigned nomination form of BN candidate Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz was accepted.

He emphasised that the EC is not professional enough as such incidents still occur even after 50 years of existence. 

-- SIN CHEW DAILY