Despite brickbats from MCA and electoral reform group Bersih, PKR-linked NGO Invoke’s offer of cash prizes to encourage the youth to register as voters has received a cautious welcome from analysts.

Penang Institute senior fellow Wong Chin Huat said he welcomed all efforts to promote voter registration, including Invoke’s prize offer, since voter registration is time-consuming and not automatic.

“Voting is how people take ownership of the country. Where voter registration is automatic and all-year-round, voters can also make that decision on the polling day itself.

“In Malaysia, where electoral rolls get updated only once every three months and sometimes certain registrations could take a mysteriously long time to be approved, eligible citizens may realise too late, when they want to vote, that they can’t because they are not registered,” Wong (photo) told Malaysiakini when contacted on Tuesday.

The former member of the Bersih steering committee member said there shouldn’t be any ethical concerns as long as Invoke does not abuse the personal information of voters.

Voters should also fully understand that they are volunteering their information to Invoke in exchange for the opportunity to win a prize, he said.

Meanwhile, Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) CEO Wan Saiful Wan Jan said he is not surprised to see people resorting to offering cash prizes to get others to register as voters.

Wan Saiful said getting citizens to register and exercise their right to vote has always been a challenge, especially in the more developed democracies, once the excitement of being able to participate in democratic processes wears out.

“If you go to more developed democracies, you would see that participation rates are very low,” he said.

However, Wan Saiful (photo) warned that while the prize offer may encourage people to register to vote, whether the voters would actually head to the polls during election time is a different story.

He added that the offer could set up the ‘wrong incentives’ for people to register as voters – for cash rather than out of civic consciousness – and this risk needs to be managed.

“So, I don’t see this as a negative development. I see this as just a part of another education programme, but we must manage the risks associated with this initiative as well,” he said.

‘Reveal sources of funding’

However, for the sake of transparency, Wan Saiful urged Invoke to reveal its sources of funding, so that the people would know where the money for the campaign was coming from.

He added that civic education programmes should be run continuously, rather than be made seasonal, and that should be enough to get the people to register and to vote.

National Professors Council’s Governance, Law and Public Management Cluster head Nik Ahmad Kamal Nik Mahmood said Invoke’s offer is a good idea.

“To say this is a form of corruption is difficult, because it is not necessarily those who get them to register who would actually get their votes.

“I think it is a good idea because we know that the awareness among Malay voters is there, but many procrastinate on it.

“There are four million eligible people who haven’t registered and time is short, depending on when the election is going to be held,” Nik Ahmad Kamal said when contacted yesterday.

Invoke is offering weekly cash prizes of up to RM1,000 to encourage eligible youth to register as voters.

Participants are asked to snap a photo of their voter registration slip, and submit it to Invoke’s website with some personal details and a slogan encouraging youth to register to vote.

“Every week, we will award prize money to the best sloganeer!” the website reads. The weekly prizes comprise one RM1,000 prize, two RM500 prizes, and three RM200 prizes.

Bersih chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah said the move reflected the ‘pathetic’ state of affairs in Malaysia, and voters should be encouraged to register on their own instead.

MCA central committee member Ti Lian Ker warned that the move could lead to more corrupt practices and undermine Malaysia’s democratic processes.

However, Amanah communications chief Khalid Samad, Selangor PKR deputy chief Zuraida Kamarudin and PAS Pokok Sena MP Mahfuz Omar came out in support of the move.

Mahfuz also cautioned that new voters should be taught to understand their responsibilities as voters, instead of merely vying for a cash incentive.