When a person comes to the polling station pretending that he is you, gets a ballot paper and votes = there are several serious criminal offences or offences that are committed here. Not just election offences - but CRIMINAL offences.
When you later come to cast your vote - you may not even know that someone using your name had came before that and voted. What the election officer would do is just give you your ballot paper, for you to cast your vote - but the ballot paper given to you will be of a different colour or kind, and when it comes to vote counting, these different coloured(or kind) ballot papers will simply be set aside and not be counted.This was in the past(and I am not sure whether this is still being practiced now).
Alternatively, you will just not be allowed to vote, because on the record, you have already cast your vote - they gave the 'coloured or different' ballot paper in the past to avoid the 'disturbance' that may happen, when you find out that someone else had come earlier used your name and voted. Of course, anyone who is told that will be most angry - as your right to vote has been 'stolen'...and, you have wasted so much time and energy to come to vote ...and, you have just been denied your fundamental right.
The first person may certainly be an 'imposter' but to be able to get away with it, he/she would have needed also an Identity Card that could be passed off as a valid identity card.
HENCE, there are many serious offences committed here...
- Pretending to be some other;
- In possession of a false Malaysian identity card ( now, how he got that card, is a very serious matter - because manufacturing and producing such false Malaysian identity card is a very serious matter, that cannot be let go..)
- Identity Theft >> that would also be the new term for this today;
- Besides voting in your name, one with a very good 'false identity card' is capable of doing so much more...
Was the false identity card issued by the National Registration Department because they verily believed that the applicant was legitimate > that means someone must have hacked their system - because, now when they do check their records, a photograph of the real person will also emerge...Was the NRD in on it?
The ability to be able to make Malaysian identity cards and/or Malaysians passports that can convince the Election Commission is a matter of serious concern.
The crimes committed is not just an election offence - but even more a serious criminal offence that must be pursued by the police and/or other relevant enforcement agencies.
BUT then, I do not recall reading in the media that any such 'imposter', or any such persons involved in the production of false identity cards have been charged, tried and/or convicted.
Neither, have I heard of any such investigations into such crimes.
WHY IS THAT?
Surely, the Election Commission itself(or the relevant EC official at the particular polling booth and/or station and/or constituency, should have immediately made a police report allerting the police the fact of these serious crime/s. They would have furnished the police with the number of such incidences that happened, the name and the NRIC number used, and maybe even photo documentation of the 'impostor' and the 'real person' that used the same name and NRIC bearing the same number - and the police and/or the relevant enforcement agency would have speedily acted...and the suspected criminal would have been arrested, investigated and charged in court - the determination of who is the real person and who is the impostor will easily be concluded..
Considering the seriousness of the crime, the police could also post the photographs of the said criminal suspect in the media to get public assistance to catch the alleged perpetrator - which is important as the police need him/her to get to the person who gave him the said 'false Malaysian Identity card' - which will lead to the people making these false Malaysian documents...
NOW, WHAT MAY HAVE HAPPENED?
- The Election Commission, and/or the relevant Election Commission officials at the relevant polling station - never even bothered to make a Police Report about this crime - this is so very wrong, as anyone who suspects and/or witnesses a suspected crime has a legal and/or moral duty to report the crime - an action that gets investigation going leading to arrests, prosecutions and/or even convictions.
- Well, poling and counting agents may have simply passed on their report to the Candidate and/or their agent believing that the candidate and/or their agents and/or their political parties would have gone and made the relevant police report - BUT then, the candidate/agent/party were not bothered and did not make this police report.
WHY candidates/political parties not bothered about making police reports?
- maybe they won the elections, so they were not bothered to make a police report and/or lodge the complaint with the relevant authorities.
- OR maybe they lost so badly, and the number of such incidents was insufficient to be able to successfully challenge the final outcome of the elections...
- Or maybe they are only bothered about complaining to the Election Commission only - and did not bother to report to the police.
EITHER way, such candidates, their agents and/or their political parties did a serious wrong - and by so doing, they have let criminals get of scot free.
In Elections, our concern should never be just about winning or losing elections, we also have a legal and/or moral duty to report all crimes and suspected crimes to the police and/or the relevant authorities.
REMEMBER - the voter may not even had known there was a crime, if the Election Commission officer did not inform him, and simply gave him a ballot paper(of a different colour and/or kind, that will not be counted later). So, the voter may simply go home happy that he/she has cast his/her vote ...not knowing that the vote he/she cast will not even be counted.{Hence, the only person who KNOWS that a crime has been committed are the officers of the Election Commission, and the polling/counting agents of the contesting candidates who are monitoring - so the duty to make a police report falls on them.]
Now, if we have made such police reports, and the police seem to be doing nothing - well, we can then complain to the Enforcement Agencies Integrity Commission(EAIC), Public Complaints Bureau(Biro Aduan Awam), SUHAKAM(Malaysian Human Rights Commission), SPR, etc...
In any event,
If you are a polling agent and/or a counting agent, or the person affected who was not given a chance to vote because someone else had come earlier using your name, agent of the SPR, or a person who came to know that such things happened - Immediately go and make a police report, and get a copy of the report made...we certainly do not want such criminals to get away scott free...
At polling station, before the voter is given his/her ballot paper - maybe a photograph of the said person with the National Identity Card should be taken - a photo of the 2 persons with the same name and valid looking Identity hard will surely help get the criminal/s caught and prosecuted.
If such criminals, who use other people's names and who has a valid looking false National Registration Identity Card should never be allowed to escape.
If you have also provided the candidate, his/her agent or the political party with that information, I suggest that you include this fact...
We certainly abhor candidates and/or political parties that are simply interested in winning elections - but seem to not care about CRIMES that have been committed - and these are serious crimes...
WE WANT A BETTER MALAYSIA - AND WE CERTAINLY DO NOT TOLERATE CRIME - Imposters, Identity Thieves, Makers and suppliers of false NRICs....
##Coming early to vote reduces the chance of being deprived of your right to vote - a vote that will matter and be counted...because you may arrive before the 'imposter'...
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