KOTA KINABALU: Both the state and Federal Government must ensure that the electoral roll for Sabah is clean, says former chief minister Datuk Yong Teck Lee.
The nominated assemblyman and Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president said this long-standing issue had yet to be resolved.
“The long outstanding efforts of Sabahans to ensure that our electoral roll is clean and not tainted by illegal or dubious voters will have to be taken up by government leaders at both the federal and state levels,” he said in a statement on Thursday (March 9).
Yong, a lawyer, made the call for several reasons including a High Court decision overturning an application for judicial review to get the Election Commission and National Registration Department to conduct a forensic audit of the 2022 electoral roll.
He said he and assemblymen Datuk Abidin Madingkir (Paginatan), Datuk Jasnih Daya (Pantai Dalit) and Datuk Anwar Ayuub @ Annuar Ayub (Liawan) had filed for the judicial review in November.
He said on Dec 12, the Kota Kinabalu High Court ruled that there were other avenues to seek remedy for the clean-up of the electoral roll, namely administrative and political processes.
“In view of the availability of alternative avenues and recourse, other than through the courts, I have instructed our lawyers not to appeal the order of the High Court.
“As a victim of dubious electoral rolls in the past, I am concerned that the roll must be clean and contain only legal voters,” Yong added.
