THE JOHOR election was a historical moment for Malaysia as more than 749,731 new voters were registered via automatic voter registration following the ruling of the Kuching High Court on September 21, 2021.
These developments were well received by the overseas Malaysian community as more than 1.7 million Malaysian citizens (students, civil servants, and working professionals) are now automatically registered as voters in Malaysia.
However, the initial excitement quickly subsided as overseas voters were presented with unending challenges in exercising their right to vote in the previous Johor election.
For example, although the total number of Malaysian students – as reported by the United Kingdom and Eire Council of Malaysian Students – currently exceeds 15,000, the Undi18 movement’s demand for the Malaysian High Commission Office in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to be used as a polling station was not entertained by the Election Commission (EC).
As a result, individuals had to post their ballots to Malaysia individually. This cost them up to £30 (RM155) per individual.
To address this issue, Undi18 together with the Malaysian National Liaison Committee UK and Eire (BPN UKE) initiated a campaign to raise awareness and facilitate postal voting in the UK and Ireland in the previous Johor election.
We stress that the short time frame given for postal ballot registrations and campaigning was the main constraint for postal voters. Because of the short time frame, many overseas voters were not able to register as postal voters.
Besides that, the short campaigning period also meant that the duration allowed for the ballots to be posted from Malaysia to the UK and vice versa was extremely short and increased the risks of ballots not reaching Malaysia in time.
In the state election, the late arrival of postal ballots to voters in the UK meant that there were only five days for voters to post their ballots back to Malaysia. Voters had to resort to other means to ensure that their ballots arrived in time.
Not only that, the courier service chosen by the EC was poorly managed and did not deliver what was promised. A total of 46% of voters registered in BPN UKE’s database either received their ballots later than the promised time frame, or did not receive their ballots at all.
Among those that did not receive their ballots, some even reported that their ballots were sent to the wrong addresses.
For example, Sarah, 24, was contacted by a Singaporean resident who later confirmed that her ballot was sent to Singapore. This was drastically off from her registered address in the UK.
We stress that this is not an isolated incident.
According to the Malaysian Students Global Alliance, another student organisation that facilitated postal voting for the Johor election, a similar situation happened among Malaysian voters in Australia.
Carol, 20, an undergraduate at the University of Sydney, reported that she only received her ballot four days after the election had concluded.
The unsatisfactory postal voting system is in fact not new. In the previous 14th general election, many ballots arrived in the UK only either on the day of the election, or after the polls were concluded.
This prompted Bersih and a few other non-governmental organisations to initiate “Projek Undi Rabu,” to collect and transport these ballots back to Malaysia themselves.
We do not wish to see a repeat of these incidents in future state elections and general elections.
Else, we will continue to hear the same stories as we heard in the recent Johor election, whereby out of 200,000 postal voters that were eligible to vote, only 7,814 overseas postal votes were released while the number of postal votes actually received on the polling day is still unknown to the public.
To address this issue, a coalition consisting of several Malaysian student organisations worldwide will be formed.
Swift and immediate actions will be taken to ensure that our rights as overseas Malaysians to vote are not sidelined simply because of inefficiencies in the current system.
Else, the rights of more than 1.7 Million Malaysian citizens overseas will continue to be stolen from us. – The Vibes, September 19, 2022
The Vote Malaysia Movement consists of:
Persatuan Pengundi Muda (Undi 18)
Malaysian Student Global Alliance (MSGA)
United Kingdom & Eire Council for Malaysian Students (UKEC)
Malaysian National Liaison Committee UK & Eire (BPN UKE)
Malaysian Democratic Alliance in UK (Demokratik)
Kesatuan Penuntut Undang-undang Malaysia di United Kingdom & Eire (KPUM)
Institut Demokrasi & Emansipasi Anak Muda (IDEA Belia)
