Franklin D Roosevelt once said, “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.”

In today’s Malaysian politics, a lot of planning has been worked out by the opposition coalition, Pakatan Rakyat. So far, it appears as though the plan so far is to launch relentless attacks on Umno and its ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional (BN) over every single issue that crops up, and the most recent one is the Mismah-gate scandal.

Mismah became somewhat an overnight sensation, after it was discovered that there was something dodgy about the way she had acquired her Malaysian citizenship. Apparently, she got it done in a very short time length and that her name was first found on the electoral roll database from the EC website. Previously, Mismah was a Permanent Resident (PR) status holder with a red MyPR card who is not eligible to vote in this country. According to reports and the opposition leaders who’ve been attacking this issue, it only took her less than four hours to convert her PR status into full Malaysian citizenship.

The EC chairman, Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Yusof, in the midst of the fracas, had issued a statement saying that the commission had nothing to do with the Mismah quandary and that all the confusion might have come from the technical glitch from the National Registration Department (NRD) database system. Meanwhile, PAS vice president Salahuddin Ayub had revealed, on the first week of Ramadan, that from the information that they have gathered, they found out that along with Mismah, at least 1,100 other PR holders had also been registered on the electoral rolls within a “dubious” length of time.

 “The thing is, the application was being processed and granted too fast,” said Salahuddin.
 
Salahuddin was in a high-spirits when he revealed that said that they have the newfound evidence of misleading procedures and that those PRs were granted their citizenships in the space of two hours. This is quite bizarre as normally, it would take years for the NRD to grant a citizenship application. He believes it’s one of Umno-BN’s dirty and desperate tactics that they have employed to ensure their continuity as the ruling government. Again, Pakatan has got Najib’s back onto the wall seeing as if this Mismah allegations are proven to be true, it would justify the cause Bersih have been fighting for.

Apprehensive that the malpractices of the government agency and EC will give BN an upper hand in the upcoming general election whereby the ambiguous citizen will be used as phantom voters, Pakatan Rakyat promptly called for the Prime Minister to call for an emergency parliament seating to discuss over the matter.  

“We urge the Prime Minister to hold an emergency seating in the parliament to address this matter, we want the seating to be held within one week from now,” Said Salahuddin who addressed the issue as a breach of national security.

Salahuddin said that during the emergency parliamentary seating, Pakatan Rakyat will reveal all of the information that proves that the NRD and EC have been ‘working together’ in a wrongful manner by registering PRs on the electoral rolls.

“We will reveal everything, along with all its tauke (masterminds),” said Salahuddin

Salahuddin along with Shah Alam MP Khalid Ibrahim and Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar of PKR went through the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz to hand in the letter to motion for an emergency parliamentary sitting. Upon receiving the memorandum, Nazri vowed to discuss the request for the sitting with Najib during an iftar in the Prime Minister’s residence in Putrajaya.

“It should not be a problem,” said Nazri.
 
However, that was a story of three weeks ago. As the article is being written, no parliamentary sitting or whatsoever in accordance to the motion was held. The Prime Minister, who was supposed to have been informed about the motion by Nazri, has been keeping mum over the issue. In the meantime, EC and NRD are washing their hands of the scandal.

Instead of addressing the issue at hand, Najib decides to create a diversion by the introduction of the parliamentary selection committee (PSC) on electoral reform. A committee that comprises a selection of MPs (five from BN, 3 from Pakatan and 1 Independent) will debate over the electoral process and its reform. However, the introduction of the PSC is seen by the DAP president, Lim kit Siang as another sign of Najib’s ‘flip flop’. The veteran politician said that the PSC has vindicated the intense questioning and doubts about the true intentions of the PSC proposal. Lim also questioned whether the PSC is a genuine and sincere attempt to address and resolve the many flaws in the electoral system or just a gimmick to sidetrack legitimate and growing public demands for electoral reforms.

Although Mismah herself had come forward and deny Pakatan’s allegations towards her citizenship status, there are still thousands of PRs’ names that appeared to have been registered on the electoral rolls. If EC is really keen on clearing the air of doubt that shrouded the committee all this time, the least they could do is to investigate the matter thoroughly or perhaps urge the MACC to carry out investigations to seek the real cause of the scandal.

On the other hand, the government must not use the PSC as a sole testimony of its dedication to battle the unlawful practices during elections.  As it looks right now, the PSC is nothing more but a diversion from more serious issues, while the demand from Pakatan again falls on Najib’s deaf ears.

*The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the writer.