Johor polls: Early closure of several polling centres part of Federal Gazette, says Johor police chief

JOHOR BARU: Police will be investigating the case of a viral video showing a group of people protesting in front of a polling station, which had allegedly closed early.

Johor police chief Comm Datuk Kamarul Zaman Mamat said that so far, no police report had been lodged over the case and the police will continue to follow up on the situation.

He added that, based on preliminary investigations, the school involved had been gazetted to close early; at 2pm Saturday (March 12) under a Federal Government Gazette notice under subregulation 11(5A), polling hours for the general election of the legislative assembly of the State of Johore.

“There are a few places that were gazetted to close early, and this was made known earlier, so those involved in the election should have known this.

“Please do not try to ‘spin’ anything. This is inside the Federal Government Gazette,” he said when contacted.

He added that there were a few places where polling stations were closed earlier, either at 2pm or 4pm.

Some of the locations stated in the gazetted documents are Pusat Jagaan Kanak-Kanak Gunung Mas, in Ladang Kempas, which closed at 2pm, Dewan Orang Ramai Eldred, in Ladang Getah Eldred (2pm) and SJK (T) Cantuman Chaah, in Chaah Timur (2pm).

“If they want details, they can refer to the Election Commission (EC) on why some of these places were gazetted to close early,” he added.

Asked if the police had received any reports on other cases during the polling day, he said they had not yet received any reports of unwanted incidents.

“So far, everything has been going on smoothly,” he added.

Earlier, some video clips had been circulated via social media showing a group of people protesting the closure of a few polling centres in Bekok, Segamat.