KUALA LUMPUR, March 21 — Former Election Commission (EC) chairman Tan Sri Ab Rashid Abdul Rahman has suggested today for the government to make voting mandatory for Malaysians as soon as possible.
According to news portal Free Malaysia Today (FMT), he said that despite the automatic voter registration and Undi18 implementation being a positive move, the low voter turnout in the recent Johor state election proved there is more that needs to be done.
“While provocative, compulsory voting may need to be implemented to ensure higher voter turnout.
“Of course, further dialogue is needed to determine exactly how this will be done, but the sooner it is implemented the better,” he was quoted as saying.
He also noted the amount of work needed to be done to amend the current laws on the electoral process but was confident that it could be done.
He emphasised the importance of people voting in general elections to decide the country’s trajectory in the next five years or even until the Parliament dissolved.
He reportedly said that any functioning democracy relies on its voters and called for a better system to track voters’ location and changes to their address to ensure none of them is left behind.
Further commenting on the inadequacy of the current electoral system, he said that such measures should not only just apply to those who live in the country but need to include students or citizens living abroad.
Previously, Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had raised caution over the low voter turnout during the recent Johor polls saying that it is threatening the democratic process.
