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‘Remove me from electoral roll’


SHAH ALAM - A 32-year-old man who has been living in London for the past 15 years yesterday filed an application asking the High Court to compel the Election Commission (EC) to remove his name from the electoral roll, claiming he had never registered as a voter.
Dinesh Siva Kumar has named the EC and its Selangor chief registrar as respondents in his judicial review application which alleges the two respondents failed to conduct their duties in a transparent and trustworthy manner.
"The second respondent (the Selangor EC chief registrar) had admitted the mistake but refused to correct the error made by a former officer," said Dinesh in his application, where he was represented by his father, 63-year-old retiree K. Siva Kumar.
Former Klang MP Charles Santiago told a press conference last Friday that Dinesh was registered by appointed assistant registrar Hishamuddin Kassim, who was unable to recall the specifics of Dinesh's case when contacted.
Speaking at the High Court registry yesterday, Siva Kumar said they first became aware of his son's voter registration when he received a "Happy Malaysia Day" card last year addressed to Dinesh, which contained his voter details on the EC website.
Dinesh was listed as being a registered voter in the Klang parliamentary constituency.
"He is said to have registered as a voter on March 7, 2012, but he wasn't even in the country then," said Siva Kumar, who was accompanied by lawyer John Fam and Santiago.
Santiago also spoke of his meeting on Tuesday with Selangor EC director Dzulkifli Abdul Rahman and said he had been told by Dzulkifli that Section 9(A) of the Elections Act 1958 prohibited electoral roll amendments after it was gazetted.
Commenting on this, Fam told reporters Regulation 25(G) of the Election Act allows the chief registrar to remove and delete names.
"You (the EC) are empowered and you are not doing it. This is morally wrong," he added.
-thesundaily

Anwar pledges market reforms to boost economy

KUALA LUMPUR, April 3 – A Pakatan Rakyat (PR) government will reform the market and eliminate corruption to ensure continuous economic growth, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim promised today.
The opposition leader told the Al-Jazeera news channel today that Malaysia’s budget deficit was caused by poor governance and “endemic corruption”.
“We believe in market reforms,” said Anwar in an interview with Al-Jazeera that was broadcast live today, after Parliament was dissolved earlier this morning.
“We’re very strong in distributive justice and affirmative action for the poor. We must cut corruption and ensure the country is governed in a transparent manner,” he added.
Anwar (picture) stressed that good governance was PR’s central focus in Election 2013, which is expected to be the most closely contested in history, saying: “There’s a clear position to respect the rights of all Malaysians and rid the country of excesses and corruption.”
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak told newswire Reuters last month that a smaller parliamentary majority for Barisan Nasional (BN) could hamper his efforts in curbing the budget deficit and may cause economic instability.
The budget deficit dropped to 4.5 per cent last year from more than 6 per cent when Najib took office in 2009.
Malaysia’s debt, however, has hit 53 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – close to the ceiling of 55 per cent – up from 43 per cent in 2008.
Analysts have said that Najib’s transformation initiatives under the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) and the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) contributed to the GDP growth rate of 6.4 per cent year-on-year in the fourth quarter of last year.
Najib said in a televised address earlier today that a strong mandate would enable the government to develop the nation.

SPR website down?

Trying to prevent Malaysians and the opposition to check out illegitimate voters?
SPR website down ? =.=

Trying to prevent Malaysians and the opposition to check out illegitimate voters? [-EL]