MAY 6 — The 14th General Election of our beloved country has been scheduled for the 9th of May 2018. Early voting and Postal Voting was scheduled to start on the 5th May 2018. News reports clearly show that early voting at the designated polling stations were carried out smoothly. Congratulations on that.
However, I have grave concerns as do many other Malaysians on the efficacy of postal voting, especially in regards to overseas voters.
As of today, I personally know of at least 10 people who have yet to receive their postal ballots. These are Malaysian citizens residing in Melbourne and London.
There have also been news reports dated 5th May 2018 that say that ballot papers have not been received by others in the UK as well as other countries.
If these citizens have not received their ballot papers yet, how are they supposed to be able to exercise their vote and send it back in time by 5pm on the 9th of May 2018?
I do not believe these are isolated issues and one has to really wonder how many people have not received their ballot papers and have been denied their right to vote?
In a news report just today, you have been reported as giving assurance to postal voters that their ballot papers would reach voters and be returned to their returning officers before 5pm on May 9.
You have also been quoted in the report as saying “There are no technical issues. I’ve been informed that those (voting) overseas have yet to receive (their ballot papers), while some have received them and sent them back (to Malaysia).
“There are many who are excited to vote, but are worried that the ballot papers will not arrive.
“InsyaAllah (God willing), there is a schedule that we need to follow and we have not missed the deadline,”
If voters residing overseas have not received their ballot papers yet, and with only three days left to post their votes in, how are they supposed to exercise their right to vote?
Even if they were to courier the ballots across, this would take some time and some would certainly miss the cut-off time and thus have their votes nullified.
Surely the Election Commission (SPR) would know how long it would take to print ballots and the time taken to send them out and get them returned. A quick check on the Pos Malaysia website shows that it takes 4-6 working days for a document to get to the UK.
If the SPR was indeed concerned about ensuring the rights of international voters, the printing and posting of ballots would have been done in a far better manner. If time was an issue, surely there could be electronic means employed at Embassies or High Commissions to ensure voters were able to cast their votes on time.
The public needs answers to these queries on the efficiency of the SPR. Some overseas voters have clearly been denied their right to vote. They have been denied their right to make a choice of their elected representative. They have been denied of their basic right as a Citizen of Malaysia.
I, as a concerned citizen of Malaysia, am calling this out as a failure. I will not sit back and let the rights of many of my fellow Malaysians residing overseas to be denied. This is a failure on the part of the SPR, of which dear Sir, you must be held accountable for.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
