More than 100 voters approached the Sibu headquarters of the Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) yesterday, demanding the balance of RM400 each as the reward promised for backing its candidates in the recent state election.

Sibu Election W NONE atch (SEW) in a press statement released late yesterday evening said the voters were upset that they did not get the "balance", despite being promised the money by SUPP election agents as well as the tuai rumah (longhouse head) before the April 16 polls.

The incident was first reported by the web portal Sarawak Indigenous Community News and later tweeted by DAP Sarawak chairman and Bukit Assek assemblyperson Wong Ho Leng ( left ), who was at the scene yesterday.

Soon after the news broke out, SEW sent two representatives to the Sibu SUPP headquarters to investigate.

Its probe, SEW said, showed that the voters were promised an upfront payment of RM100 before voting day. If the SUPP candidate won, they would each be paid another RM400 after the election.

supp alleged money politic 250411 02 SEW said its representatives had witnessed voters from at least two longhouses being paid the "balance" of RM400 each.

The election watch said the voters were from Rumah Chandi, Rumah Pasang and Rumah Ujang.

When the SEW representatives were leaving the scene, it said, only the residents from Rumah Chandi and Rumah Pasang had collected the money from SUPP.

"One of the residents from Rumah Chandi even distributed a stack of RM100 bills to the longhouse folk holding their identity cards in front of us," SEW said.

Quarrel with tuai rumah

SEW said it interviewed one voter from Rumah Ujang, who revealed that the they quarrelled with their tuai rumah after not getting their RM400 even a week after polling day.

"However, the tuai rumah hit back, saying that some people had voted for DAP and did not deserve to get the RM400 balance," said the young voter quoted by SEW.

He blamed the tuai rumah for being unfair, since the BN had no way of proving which person did not vote for BN.

SEW supp alleged money politic statement by voters said another voter, who only wanted to be known as Robin, gave them a letter and expressed the residents' anger with their tuai rumah, Mador Anak Rendah.

In the letter signed by 'Disgruntled Voters', the Sg Rasau voters said they felt deep regret that BN and SUPP had failed to deliver their election promises.

On election eve, the letter says, the voters were given RM100 each voter and later promised RM400 if the candidate wins in the election.

However, when NONE approached by SEW and Wong, these voters refused to lodge police reports on the matter.

They said there was  "no point doing so", since the police had not acted on some  reports lodged before.

BN retained its two-thirds majority in the Sarawak legislature, while the opposition increased its seats from seven to 15. The state assembly has 71 seats.

Messages on Facebook

Malaysiakini contacted Sibu SUPP today for comment but was told that Bumiputera unit head Andrew Shiling was at a meeting.

Its publicity chief Daniel Ngieng refused to comment, claiming that he was not aware of the incident.

sibu by election 070510 wong soon koh Attempts to contact Sibu SUPP head Wong Soon Koh (right) also failed.

However, Soon Koh posted five messages on his social networking website Facebook to rebut the allegation, saying that Ho Leng and Malaysiakini have defamed the party.

One message raised seven questions to refute the vote-buying accusation, such as why people had gathered at a coffee shop nearby but not at the SUPP office on the second floor; why Ho Leng, who was at the scene, did not call MACC officials to come immediately; and why Ho Leng failed to take photographs of the crowd surrounding SUPP office as claimed by the report.

"Does Wong Ho Leng have concrete evidence or it is just deliberate slander to vent his anger?" posed Soon Koh, who defeated the DAP's Alice Lau to take the Bawang Assan seat in the state polls.

Sibu SUPP bumi members: Report damaging to us