“They simply have not done enough. They should be sending out their enforcement officers to do more than just looking at flags and leaflets. That’s the least of the offences that’s happening,” she told FMT.
Chin was responding to an incident yesterday where the commission had pulled the plug on a ceramah held by the MCA in Sungai Besar, as they did not have the relevant permit.
According to Malaysiakini, a party worker said that the MCA had a police permit for the event, but was unclear whether an EC permit had been obtained.
Chin claimed there were many instances of “bribery and the handing out of freebies” during the campaigning period and these should be closely monitored by the commission.
“The problem is that the EC sees its role as limited to looking at flags, billboards and banners. They are empowered to do so much more than that, but they don’t.”
Expressing disappointment, she said the commission had failed to learn from its mistakes in the recent 11th Sarawak State Election.
“They have not learned from it and they are still doing the same thing.”
Last week, campaign vehicles used by the MCA to assist the Barisan Nasional candidate for Sungai Besar, Budiman Mohd Zohdi, were removed by the EC as the MCA did not have the necessary permits to use them.
The Sungai Besar by-elections, set for 18 June, sees Budiman contesting against PAS candidate and Meru Assemblyman Abdul Rani Osman, as well as Amanah candidate Azhar Abdul Shukur.
The Sungai Besar constituency has 42,836 registered voters, comprising of 67.18 per cent Malays, 30.68 per cent Chinese, 1.91 per cent Indians, and 0.23 per cent of other races.