PAS phantoms haunt Hadi's base: Umno leader
Malaysiakini
Oct  5, 2006
Muda Mohd Noor

An Umno leader claimed that phantom voters resurrected by PAS whenever an election comes around in Terengganu are mostly found in the state constituency of Rhu Rendang.

The Rhu Rendang seat is controlled by Abdul Hadi Awang, the president of the Islamic-based opposition party and former Terengganu menteri besar.

His house is also located in the area.

Umno leaders also said it was nothing new about the allegation that PAS uses phantom voters to secure victory for its candidates in Terengganu, which it lost to Barisan Nasional in the 2004 polls.
They were responding to Marang parliamentarian and Umno politician Abdul Rahman Bakar who alleged that PAS will be bringing in phantom voters to win the seat in the next polls.

Abdul Hadi was also the Marang incumbent before losing the parliamentary seat to Abdul Rahman by 163 votes in the previous general election.

Unidentified voters

Marang Umno Wanita chief Zaitun Mat Amin said unidentified voters normally converged in the houses of PAS supporters whenever there is an election.

According to her, Rhu Rendang is the area with the most number of phantom voters.

“Since Abdul Hadi contested in the area since 1978, phantom voters have been present. This is what PAS does every time there is an election,” she said when contacted.

“They bring in the phantom voters just to ensure the PAS president wins. If Abdul Hadi loses, the party will lose face,” she added.

She said they were able to trace the existence of phantom voters after checking through the latest electoral roll.

Former students

Rhu Rendang Umno election coordinator Latiff Mohd Noor claimed that PAS’ modus operandi is to register phantom voters as local voters.

“Most of them are former university students who are PAS supporters as well as supporters from other areas where the opposition party has no chance of winning,” he added.

To avoid this, he said, Umno is working together with the Village Development and Security Committee (JKKK) to monitor the latest electoral roll.

However, he said not all phantom voters can be traced because the people do not cooperate.

In the 2004 election, PAS only won five of the 32 state seats while it lost in all the parliamentary seats.

In response, Terengganu PAS commissioner and the party's national election director Mustafa Ali said these claims were baseless and in turn accused Umno of using phantom voters to win the election.