An election watch group in Sarawak has received a number of complaints on alleged infringements in the polling process from both the Barisan Nasional and opposition groups.

Sarawak Election Watch (Sarel) coordinator Aminah Ismail said the group has so far received about 50 complaints through telephone yesterday, and more were expected.

"The complaints ranged from flawed voters list, money being distributed, intimidation at polling stations to disturbances during campaign time," she told malaysiakini.

"There are also complaints against the opposition and many of them have to do with rough tactics. There is a complaint that BN supporters were beaten up by opposition supporters," she added.

Sarel comprise people from various community groups and two non-governmental organisations who felt the necessity to monitor the election process after allegations that the Election Commission (EC) was not truly independent at the 1999 general elections.

Members comprise 65 volunteers and one office assistant, and rely on funding from individuals and local organisations.

Fear tactics

According to Aminah, Sarel was set-up as a "vehicle to bring people's complaints to the EC, not so much to justify them but to investigate".

She added that the group will compile reports from all constituencies and present an interim report to the EC and Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) soon.

Aminah also described the EC's directive that campaigns can only be conducted through house-to-house canvassing and indoor ceramah (political gathering) as "stifling".

"This is not really fair to the opposition as they lack the machinery to reach out to the people," she said.

"Despite the high turnout of voters yesterday, we found people are really afraid that their votes are not confidential," she added.

Asked to comment on BN's success yesterday, Aminah said that it does not really reflect the "people's wish".

"It may be apathy as people feel that their votes cannot change anything. It may also be that the fear tactics employed by BN was effective," she added.