KUALA LUMPUR: DAP stalwart Karpal Singh has welcomed PKR supreme council member Zaid Ibrahim's decision to file an election petition to declare the Hulu Selangor by-election result null and void.
The renowned lawyer also pointed out that Zaid should not be seen as a “sore loser” for taking the matter to court.
Karpal claimed that the former law minister had strong grounds for the petition, given the “rampant bribery” by Barisan Nasional, led by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak himself.
"His (Zaid's) action is necessary and whatever happened in Hulu Selangor should not be allowed to recur in any other election,” he told FMT.
The DAP MP claimed that there is strong evidence against Najib and other BN leaders to prove their “blatant violation” of the Election Offences Act 1954.
By filing the petition, Karpal said Zaid has taken the right step towards restoring clean and fair elections.
Furthermore, he pointed out that Zaid was duty-bound to protect the interest of the public by taking up the matter, since the Election Commission has failed to do so.
“Any election must be a fair and clean process. Democracy will be defeated if political parties use money to decide the outcome of a contest,” he said.
RM3 million pledge
According to Karpal, Najib's RM3 million pledge for a Chinese school in the constituency on the eve of polling day was nothing short of “bribery of the highest order”.
He said the prime minister's announcement, regarding the pledge, was widely reported and this was sufficient evidence for the EC to act.
"Najib was probably not aware of laws governing the election process or maybe he was just being arrogant in abusing the government machinery,” he added.
In view of this, Karpal urged the EC to work together with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to take the necessary action.
Besides the election petition, Zaid, who founded the country's biggest law firm, is also taking legal action against EC and the Umno-owned Malay daily Utusan Malaysia.
Umno, on the other hand, is mulling dragging Zaid to court for his allegation of corruption in the by-election.
On Sunday, BN candidate P Kamalanathan defeated Zaid by a 1,725 vote-majority to reclaim the Hulu Selangor parliamentary constituency.
The seat fell vacant following the death of PKR incumbent Zainal Abidin Ahmad on March 25.
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