By A Sam Lini
SANDAKAN: Members of two PKR divisions in Sabah – Batu Sapi and Sandakan – have filed suits against the party over alleged irregularities in the recent polls to elect the deputy president.
The two suits were filed separately at the Sandakan High Court registry this morning.
The members are asking the court to declare the election results in the two divisions null and void. They also want fresh polls to be held in their divisions for the number two post.
In the Batu Sapi suit, five members from the division – Mohd Suffian Jamal, Amir Hamzah Aliong, Saiful Bahari Rashada Ahmad, Bobong Sakaupal and Amiruddin Abdul Kadir – said they believed there had been electoral malpractices and mismanagement of the election process in the elections held in the division on Nov 13.
They named Batu Sapi division chief Hassanar Ibrahim and PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail as defendants.
In their affidavits, they said that Hassanar had not allowed them to vote as he was unsure when the balloting would begin.
However, they said that they noted about 30 to 40 people had turned up for the election which started at 1pm and ended at about 4pm.
"We were shocked with the result of the election when we were informed that Azmin Ali, one of the three candidates for the post of deputy president, has obtained 1,027 votes between 1pm and 4pm when only 30 to 40 people turned up at the material time," they said.
They added that the party had not taken any action over the increased number of voters.
As such, they want the court to declare the results which favoured Azmin invalid and for fresh polls ordered in the division.
Manipulation in Sandakan
The Sandakan PKR suit was filed by party member Chee Yiu Leong who claimed that the voting process was manipulated in the division during the election on Nov 6.
He said that outsiders were ferried in to vote in favour of Azmin. He added that some voters voted more than once.
Chee, who is also the Sandakan Youth chief, said he discovered someone named Ardat Tusin was involved in organising members and non-members to cast extra votes.
Ardat, meanwhile, in his affidavit, admitted that he was responsible in ensuring Azmin got more votes than the turnout on that day.
He said that although only about 50 members had come, he was responsible in showing that more than 400 members have voted. This was done through extra votes made by individuals through extra ballot papers.
"The extra ballot papers were supplied by the election coordinator for the purpose of casting extra votes for Azmin... " said Ardat in his affidavit.
Chee named division chief Mudry Nasir @ Mazry and Saifuddin as defendants.
No date has been fixed to hear the applications. FMT learnt that at least one other division in Sabah will be filing a similar suit soon.
PKR has won one court action
Both suits filed today want the court to declare the election results in the two divisions – all favouring Azmin – invalid and for fresh polls to be conducted.
The controversy over the elections in these divisions, and in many other divisions nationwide, prompted Zaid Ibrahim to pull out for the race. He subsequently quit the party. The other candidate, Mustaffa Kamil Ayub, contested under protest.
Azmin has been officially announced as the new deputy at the party's national congress on Nov 28.
It is uncertain if the Sandakan court will entertain these applications by the disgruntled members as one such application, by former deputy secretary-general P Jenapala against the party to call for fresh polls, was rejected by the Kuala Lumpur High Court last month.
The High Court ruled that that it had no jurisdiction to hear Jenapala's suit as a result of constraints imposed by the Societies Act.

KUALA LUMPUR, 10 Dis — Pengendali blog Malaysia Today Raja Petra Kamarudin yang kontroversial menyertai Radio Free Sarawak sebagai penyumbang tetap — stesen yang mula beroperasi sejak pertengahan bulan lalu sebagai saluran siaran bukan kerajaan.
“Radio Free Sarawak bangga untuk mengumumkan bahawa blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin telah menyertai program radio ini sebagai penyumbang tetap,” kata satu kenyataan yang dikeluarkan petang ini.
Bagaimanapun ia tidak menyebut bila beliau memulakan sumbangan kepada radio itu.
Menurut kenyataan itu, Raja Petra (gambar) akan menyediakan komen harian kepada radio itu dengan memfokus pada isu-isu menyentuh negeri Sarawak dan Malaysia secara keseluruhannya.
Kenyataan itu juga menambah, editornya menyifatkan Raja Petra sebagai seorang personaliti yang “menghiburkan, provokatif dan agar unik”.
“Raja Petra merupakan seseorang yang anda boleh mendengar untuk satu tempoh yang agak lama, bukan hanya kerana dia menghiburkan dan menarik (untuk diikuti), tetapi pandangan diiringi dengan (bahan berdasarkan) penyelidikan, pengetahuan dan kewartawaan berfakta. Apabila anda mendengar Raja Petra, anda akan mempelajari sesuatu,” katanya lagi.
Radio Free Sarawak merupan stesen radio bukan kerajaan yang menyediakan siaran setiap hari antara pukul 6.30 hingga 7.30 petang pada gelombang 7590kHz dan dari 6 hingga 7 petang pada 15420 kHz.
Radio Free Sarawak memulakan siarannya pertengahan bulan lalu. Ia membawa rancangan berita, ehwal semasa dan komentar.
Difahamkan kandungan program itu akan diterbitkan oleh pertubuhan bukan kerajaan tempatan dan pemimpin masyarakat setempat di Sarawak dan dihantar ke London untuk dipancarkan.
Raja Petra mula bebas selepas Mahkamah Persekutuan pada 1 November lalu membatalkan rayuan Kementerian Dalam Negeri berhubung keputusan Mahkamah Tinggi membebaskan penulis blog itu daripada tahanan dua tahun mengikut Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negeri (ISA) dua tahun lalu.
Pada 7 November 2008, Mahkamah Tinggi Shah Alam memerintahkan pembebasan Raja Petra daripada tahanan ISA selepas memutuskan bahawa penahanannya selama dua tahun di kem tahanan Kamunting di Taiping adalah menyalahi undang-undang.
Raja Petra ditangkap pada 12 September 2008 kerana dianggap sebagai satu ancaman kepada keselamatan negara dan perintah untuk menahannya mengikut ISA dikeluarkan pada 22 September 2008.
Raja Petra ditahan berdasarkan antara lain, memiliki dan menjalankan laman web Malaysia Today dan dengan niat dan menerbitkan artikelnya dan juga komen-komen pembaca Malaysia Today dengan sewenang-wenangnya, yang menghina orang Islam, kesucian Islam dan peribadi Nabi Muhammad s.a.w.
Beliau memfailkan satu permohonan habeas corpus menuntut pembebasannya. Dalam permohonannya, dia menamakan Menteri Dalam Negeri sebagai responden.
Raja Petra juga telah dibebaskan oleh mahkamah berhubung tuduhan hasutan tahun lalu.











By Dominic Legeh
“But, even there nobody could confirm what was the actual situation. The person who gave the talk said they based their calculations according to the needs.
KUCHING - Special Advisor in the Chief Minister’s Department Amar Adenan Satem on Wednesday night warned Barisan Nasional (BN) candidates that some of them could be defeated in the next general election, The Borneo Post reported.
Salim - ketika menyambung soal balas rakan peguamnya, M Athimulan - berkata keterangan saksi tersebut tentang apa yang berlaku di Bulatan Kayangan dan penembakan tayar tersebut, adalah palsu, sambil menegaskan yang ia bercanggah dengan laporan forensik ke atas kereta itu.







