GURUN, 7 April 2009: The police are conducting an investigation on two men who had stopped a bus carrying polls canvassers in Kampung Bukit Lembu near here on the excuse that they are phantom voters of today’s Bukit Selambau state by-election.
Bukit Selambau state by-election police media relations officer Supt Hamzan Darus said the men, suspected to be opposition party supporters, had stopped the bus carrying 32 Barisan Nasional (BN) polls canvassers.
He said that at about 9.30am when the canvassers had stopped for breakfast, the men, aged 37 and 54, ordered them and the bus driver to get back into the vehicle, claiming that they were phantom voters.
Hamzan told a news conference at the Gurun police station here that the leader of the canvassers contacted the police who arrived 10 minutes later and brought all of them to the Gurun police station.
He said preliminary investigation revealed that the bus passengers, aged between 17 and 26, were polls canvassers sent to help out in the Bukit Selambau state by-election by the Padang Besar Umno in Perlis.
“According to the leader of the canvassers, all of them had been in Bukit Selambau since yesterday to attend the gathering addressed by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in Sungai Petani.
“They said they sensed that they were being followed since last night,” he said.
Hamzan said the two men who stopped the bus were being investigated for wrongful restraint and could be fined up to RM1,000 or sentenced to one month’s jail, or both.
He said the police would not hesitate to take stern action because the people had been forewarned not to resort to anything contrary to the law or which could obstruct the by-election. — Bernama
