I refer to the Star (Feb 22) report entitled 'Higher deposits to prevent trivialising polls' that deposits for candidates standing for elections have been raised from the present RM5,000 to about RM20,000.

As it is, the deposit for candidates standing for elections RM3,000 for state legislative assembly, and RM5,000 for a parliamentary seat is already too excessive.

One must not forget that the objective of the electoral process is for the people to choose the peoples' representatives to the state legislative assembly and parliament.

The candidate who offers himself as a representative of the people have to spend quite a lot of money, over and above the deposits, for the campaign. Money is needed to print pamphlets and posters, rent public address systems and vehicles, set up an election campaign centre and polling booths, pay for food, refreshments and lodging for election agents, and many other things. These all add up to a lot of money.

There are also a lot of personal sacrifices civil servants will have to resign from their jobs while those in the private sector will have to forego their work and business commitments, sometimes for months ahead of the actual election day.

They are also subjecting themselves to a lot of public scrutiny (the focus is mostly on the less savoury stuff if their opponents could get their way). It takes great guts and sacrifice for a person to offer himself as a candidate, especially for an opposition party and even more so as an independent candidate.

Most candidates, unless they come from a rich political party, will have to use their own money for the election deposit and other expenses. A Malaysian earning RM2,000 per month makes RM24,000 a year, and the reality is that most Malaysians earn far less than RM2,000 a month.

By increasing the deposit, it means that only the rich will be able to afford to stand for elections in the future, and the ordinary man in the street will be deprived of the right and opportunity of offering himself as a candidate. Is that what we want? I think not I believe that every Malaysian, not only the rich and those from rich political parties, should be accorded the opportunity of being able to offer himself/herself as the people's representative.

Even the present deposit of RM5,000 and RM3,000 is excessive, and should be reduced. The electoral process is a serious matter this must never be forgotten. Instead of increasing deposits, there must be planning on how to make the electoral process more fair and just for all candidates. A candidate, by reason of his/her limited financial resources is greatly prejudiced in our present electoral process.

We must think of ways and means of assisting every candidate, who make the sacrifice to offer himself/herself as a candidate, to at least have the minimum ability of introducing himself and explaining his reasons for standing to the whole of the constituency.

Maybe the election commission should print and circulate to all constituents individual details and a short message from each and every candidate, whereby the contents should be provided by these candidates on the nomination date.

The electorate must be given the opportunity of knowing all his available choices, so that when he goes to cast his vote he will be making a reasoned decision on who he/she wants to represent him/her and the best candidate will be chosen not the candidate with the biggest financial resources.

If one is a popular political figure, one gets media coverage but the majority of the candidates in Malaysia get no coverage or very little coverage. This is very unfair for the voters who at the end of the day are deprived of their right to chose the best candidate to be their wakil rakyat .

Electoral process is a serious matter and what need to be done is not make it even more difficult for potential candidates to offer themselves by increasing deposits. What needs to be done is to take quick and stern actions on those who commit election offences, especially those who practise "vote-buying" and money politics it is these people who trivialise the polls.