With the Bersih rally being the hottest topic around in Malaysia now, there has been talk of a more transparent electoral system which is good but it doesn’t address one particular pet peeve of mine – postal voting. For decades now, postal voting has been “reserved” strictly for government and military personnel (and their families) as well as students sponsored by the government. When I was a child, it never bothered me. When I first casted my vote as a citizen, it never either.
Until I got married and moved abroad.
It then hit me – my government had just not only created a special class of citizens but also denied them the fundamental universal right of all citizens.
The right to vote.
Yesterday, the EC came forward to defend its current postal voting system in a news article here.
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The EC said it was constantly looking for the best way to strengthen the postal voting system, including by implementing advance voting.
“Electors will be gathered in one place two or three days before the polling day.
“This system is not applicable, however, for Malaysians who are residing abroad and members of security forces who are on duty in their forward bases because of difficulties in gathering them,” it said.
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Honestly, what’s the point of implementing advance voting via post, biometric system and all that jazz if you cannot extend the same courtesy to all irrespective of whether they are working with the government or not? For all its talk about dedication to its people, 1Malaysia and all that, at the end of the day, it’s just pure lip service.
I don’t expect my letter below to get published even though it highlights what many of my overseas peers feel or have faced. We are people who WANT to vote yet we cannot and we are not living in times before emacipation or suffrage anymore. *sigh*
Dear Editor,
When I first saw your article dated 5 July (EC: Postal voting still relevant), I could not help but feel betrayed by my own government.
I have been living abroad for nearly four years now. When I first moved out of the country to Switzerland, it was just a few months before the 2008 General Elections. I wanted to exercise my right as a citizen to vote, as I did in the previous election, so I made the two-hour round trip to the embassy in Bern. There, while handling some paperwork, I enquired about the possibility of postal voting only to be told that it was an option reserved strictly for military and government personnel. The officer in charge was nonchalant about the matter, especially when I highlighted to her that I was still a citizen and held a Malaysian passport. The only way to vote is to fly back to Malaysia and cast my vote, she said.
The EC argues that postal voting is not possible for “private” citizens abroad because of the “difficulties in gathering them” yet there was an active database of Malaysians living in Switzerland, meeting up regularly for events. I know the same can be said for Malaysia groups in other countries like the UK, Australia and US. When I moved to Singapore, I asked the High Commission here the same question only to be told the same thing – “No, you have to go home and vote.” Yet, there are many Malaysians living in Singapore who are still keeping in touch with news back home. Granted that it’s just next door but why should it be any different for those based in countries next or close to home?
My question is this – if I were to come forward and register myself as a voter, isn’t it illegal – as per the law – for anyone to stop me from casting my vote, including the EC itself?
I cannot help but feel that the Commission’s logistical problem is nothing but an excuse. The French have no problems accepting postal votes and they have been holding elections at many levels for years. For the French living abroad, when there is word of an election coming up, all one has to do is register with the French embassy your intent to vote, show proof of your current address and turn up at the embassy on poling day. There is no criteria such as “only public servants will be entertained”.
I am not the only Malaysian overseas who wishes to cast their vote – many of my peers living in Denmark, Australia, Canada, US and so forth have expressed their disappointment at the Government’s inability to even honor the basic right of its citizen. Yet it pays so much lip service to the electoral and the voting system.
Sincerely…
