KOTA KINABALU: A senior politician claimed that he was offered 500 phantom voters to help him win in the 1994 general election.
But Dr Chong Eng Leong, who was then fielded by the Liberal Democratic Party under the Barisan Nasional ticket in the Sembulan state constituency, lost to then-opposition Parti Bersatu Sabah candidate by 200-vote majority.
He also told the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Illegal Immigrants in Sabah that 1994 was an interesting year for him.
“It is not because I lost in the general election, but that was the year that I finally found out about the existence of the phantom voters in the electoral roll.
“I was offered 500 of them (phantom voters) but I refused. I would have won in that election if I accepted the offer,” said the 187th witness called for the ongoing RCI.
The 69-year-old surgeon and writer of the “Lest We Forget” book told the RCI that he left PBS twice in his nearly three decades’ experience in politics, the first in 1999 when the party joined hands with Semangat 46 and pulled out of BN, and again in 2008 after he was asked to leave because he was very vocal on the illegal immigrants issue.
“I was asked to leave and join the opposition if I wanted to continue with my struggle on the illegal immigrants and phantom voters issues,” he said.
Chong said he was fielded by PBS for the Likas state seat in 1999 but lost to Sabah Progressive Party president Datuk Seri Panglima Yong Teck Lee.
He then filed an election petition and claimed there was presence of phantom voters.
Chong said it took him three months to complete a book on his findings and published it in June 2009.
“I believe that it was important for me to document what I know about the foreigners so the future generation would know what happened in Sabah since 1970 with respect to the influx of foreigners to become voters in the electoral roll,” he said, adding that the issue was discussed in all five chapters, including how it can be solved.