'I was paid to manipulate signatures for Citizens' Declaration'
Dania Zainuddin
May 26, 2016 18:26 MYT
May 26, 2016 18:26 MYT
Earlier this month, Dr Mahathir said the Citizens' Declaration has met its target of gathering 1.2 million signatures in just two months, even though it had given itself a year-end deadline. - Filepic
Personal information of more than one million individuals from a database have been used to sign the ‘Citizens’ Declaration’ forms, an independent computer programmer claimed today.
Azharuddin Othman in a statutory declaration admitted to providing the data to one Syarul Ema Rena Abu Samah, also known as 'Ratu Naga' on Facebook.
"On April 27, I was offered a total RM5,000 to obtain the information and send them to 'Ema' through e-mail.
"She (Ema) said, the information was needed by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for the Citizens’ Declaration which will be submitted to the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong.
"Ema also admitted the data needs to be manipulated quickly to meet the targeted figure. She also said Dr Mahathir did not want his name to be involved in this act,” Azharuddin told a press conference here.
On May 13, Dr Mahathir said the Save Malaysia Citizens' Declaration has met its target of gathering 1.2 million signatures in just two months, even though it had given itself a year-end deadline.
Azharuddin alleged, after everything was completed, he was only paid RM1,000 and up to now, he has not received the promised balance of payments.
According to him, he had used a database containing election voters information which was shared among within his group members.
Azharuddin who hails from Terengganu said, he knew Ema through a friend but has never met her in person and they only communicated via Whatsapp.
However, Ema via her Facebook status today claimed her name was used to spread slander and challenged those responsible to see her personally.
She also said she will hold a press conference in the near future to explain the issue.