Malaysians abroad are being told that the Malaysian government is extending the eligiblity to vote from abroad – but will the process be fair and transparent?
At present, the eligiblity to vote from abroad is limited to civil servants and their spouses, serving armed forces personnel and their spouses, and Malaysians studying full-time on government scholarship and their spouses.
But now, the eligibility for absent voters is in the process of being revised and extended.
The Election Commission is believed to have requested Malaysian embassies’ assistance to provide details of Malaysians abroad. The information, required under two categories – registered voters and non-registered voters, is apparently needed for the Commission to prepare absent voters’ registration documents. These documents will then be sent to the respective overseas embassies.
Malaysians abroad who are already registered voters will be eligible to apply for absent voter status. Those who are not yet registered as voters will first have to register themselves as voters before they can apply for absent voter status.
The above information was communicated to a contact of mine living abroad by the Malaysian embassy in that country.
Given the many questions surrounding postal ballots for security personnel within Malaysia in the past, it is not surprising that there is already concern about how the process of absentee voting will be carried out. This in itself is a reflection of the level of public confidence in the Election Commission.
How can we ensure that only bona fide voters’ ballots are received and counted without any tampering? How do we ensure there are no phantoms acting as absent voters?
If you are based abroad, tell us what you have heard from your nearest Malaysian embassy.
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Cakap tak serupa bikin? How would the EC ensure some 700,000 or more Malaysians abroad get to vote?
By dividing the 700,000 votes to 100 PR constituencies, each will get extra 7000 votes. Enough to manipulate the election outcome and caused a landslide victory to BN. Why not put more pressure and remind EC earlier to implement this self destructive and self defeated move? You really want EC to bikin serupa cakap?
You overlooked to mention that this one step will take the EC a few more decades or shall I say it will never be achieved during his life time. Unless of course the present regime is kicked out of Putrajaya and the Umno lackey in the EC is replaced with someone that is really independent and most of all knows what he is doing !
How long since Bersih 1.0 to Bersih 3.0. And until now EC still..dragging their feet to impliment suggestions from Bersih and PAC, if sincere and genuine they would have already implimented all changes to have a FREE and FAIRER, TRANSPARENT and ACCOUNTABLE election…all the delaying tactics…and dubious electoral name list,bias and unfair regulations till now ..have not been duly tackled, implimented and enforced even those recommendation by PAC was ignored, After Pakatan takes over the next government they will get it.How much time do they need ..forever…? NATO
I am a Malaysian leaving in Melbourne and also a registered voter in Penang. Voted in last GE,did not received anything from Malaysia embassy ? Please advise how to proceed to register for poster vote?
Perhaps call the embassy and ask them what’s happening re absent voters registration.
You are being rather over-optimistic here Anil. Our EC is only stalling for time so that they can avoid doing anything. The EC is not serious at all.
Yes, I suppose the level of confidence in the EC is not very high. I still remember the indelible ink fiasco in GE2008.
You guy have not resources or means to monitor the voting at oversea embassies. How on earth you can be sure that you will not be cheated? Why the self defeating move? Thinking that PR is invincible and you are unstoppable? What a good handicap for BN before the poll begin!
This is another one of those times when I have to agree with Ong Eu Soon. As much as we would like for all genuine Malaysians to be given the right to vote wherever they are, I think this is a step in the wrong direction. I know many NGOs champion this thinking that they are fighting for our democratic right to vote. Sadly many do not understand that such a practice will be subject to a tremendous amount of abuse. There is only two ways this can be done. Either they conduct postal voting or they conduct elections at… Read more »
Hi everyone,
I do agree with OES that the overseas voting allowed may open another avenue for the EC, known for its partisanship towards BN, to manipulate the votes! As OES mentioned, do we have the resources and means to monitor and ensure that there is no cheating in the overseas votes? EC can even manipulate phantom voters from overseas!
Careful there are thousands and thousand of projected Mykad holders who had returned to Indonesia. BN and EC are working very hard to trace them. My knowledge from sources that the Mal Amss has gone to full gear . Once the volume of this projected Mykad are in favour to BN and its pet … EC will execute oversea voters. EC are clever pet … their mission is to make BN wins.
Me ….BN …no..way
Who say EC is bias ??? Everything is getting better under 1Malaysia PM Najib leadership.
Vote BN to ensure continuous improvement !!!
BN [x] Pakatan [ ]
off topic but b4 “mayan doomsday” tmrw would like to wish all Anil’s readers a Merry Christmas.
Dedicate this Glee song to you all :
A step closer could also mean another 99 steps apart, then, is EC bias?