On Feb 14, I spent several hours on the phone trying to figure out how exactly Malaysian students (whom, according to the Election Commission, are eligible to vote) should go about voting postally. My phone calls were mainly to the Malaysian High Commission in Canberra, and a lot of time was wasted attempting to get through to the Election Commission in Putrajaya - no one ever answered the call. Sketchy information was being bandied about, and I ultimately set aside the issue, believing that two weeks between nomination and voting is simply too short a period to organise postal ballots anyway.

However, I was very encouraged by news in blogosphere that students in London and New York have reported success in registering for postal voting, and so I thought I would try with the Malaysian embassy in Canberra again. Since my initial enquiry, their only progress is they are now routing all enquiries involving the word ‘election’ or ‘voting’ to a gentleman named Alan, who very apologetically tells you that they are still waiting to be briefed by the Election Commission.

I informed him that London and NY seem to be running electoral operations already, and he said he would ‘look into that’, but ultimately they can't move until the EC tells them what to do. I find it absolutely bizarre that Canberra has not been informed of electoral procedures yet, seeing as the government must surely know that Australia is a temporary home to a huge number of Malaysian students.

Or perhaps that is exactly why Canberra is being left in the dark?

Recently, the Malaysian High Commission received a lot of flak for a decline in the level of service provided, and I have even heard complaints that there are times when there is no one in the High Commission who can speak Bahasa Malaysia. In this specific situation, either the EC or the Malaysian High Commission in Canberra has seriously dropped the ball.

In either case, if the parties don't get their act together very soon, Malaysian students here have every right to feel disgusted and disillusioned with being left out of a rare opportunity to influence the governance of our one and only home country, where the majority of us hope to return after our studies. The salt on the wound is that students in some other countries seem to have not had this problem.

If the parties do eventually get their act together, there will be very little time to waste - all Malaysian students who wish to vote will have to move very quickly because postal ballotting must be completed before election day.

So, please e-mail the High Commision in Canbera ( [email protected] ) to register your interest to vote postally. Alternatively, the High Commision can be reached on 02 6273 1543.