The six overseas voters who have challenged the Election Commission (EC) to register them as absent voters have gained a crucial foothold in the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

Justice Rohana Yusuf granted them leave (permission) today to initiate a judicial review of the EC’s decision.

The EC, represented by Senior Federal Counsel Amarjeet Singh of the Attorney-General’s Chambers, did not object to their application .

The court fixed Dec 13 for case management and Jan 3 to hear the application.

edmund bon gmi lawyer 090805 The six were represented by Edmund Bon (left) who described the ruling as a good start to the application.

"This will (serve as) a test case for some 700,000 to one million overseas Malaysian voters to have a right to vote," he said.

"We are very happy the AG’s Chambers did not object to the application.”

Dr Teo Hoon Seong and five others filed the application on Oct 25 after the EC classified them as ‘ordinary voters’ and not as ‘absent voters’ with the right to a postal vote.

The other five are Dr Yolanda Sydney Augustin, electrical engineer V Vinesh, entrepreneur Paramjeet Singh, interpreter Sim Tze Wei and software designer Leong See See. All are based in Britain.

A watching brief was held for the Bar Council by its constitutional committee head Syahredzan Johan; for MyOverseas Vote by lawyer K Shanmuga; and for the Malaysian Centre for Constitutionalism and Human Rights by lawyer James Khong.

The six had applied to be registered as absent voters between January and March, only to classified as ordinary voters. They then asked the EC through their lawyers, in a letter on Aug 22, to rectify this and register them as absent voters.

However, the EC in a letter dated Sept 9, rejected their request on the grounds that they are not eligible for this.

According to the Elections (Registration of Electors) Regulations 2002, only citizens who are government servants, members of the armed forces or students can be registered as absent voters, and are entitled to postal votes.

The six are now seeking:

- a declaration that they are citizens who are living overseas and have a right to be registered as absent voters;

- a certiorari order to quash the EC’s refusal to register them as absent voters;

- a mandamus order to compel the EC to register them as absent voters; or alternatively, a mandamus order to compel the EC to respond within 14 days of the court order to take the necessary action for them to become absent voters or postal voters for the purpose of the next general election;

- other relief deemed necessary by the court.

‘We want to vote’

In a press release today, the six said over one million Malaysians working overseas have been campaigning for more than a year, for the right to vote in the next general election.

This has taken the form not only of the MyOverseas Vote campaign, but also the Global Bersih 2.0 campaign.

azlan “We want to vote in the next general election. We cannot wait for the parliamentary select committee (on electoral reform) to report to Parliament before taking action,” they said.

“Even after we apply to register as absent voters, it will take three to six months before we will be able to vote.

“MyOverseas Vote has asked the EC to consider an expedited procedure ... but (it) has indicated that there is no justification for any special treatment.”

Their statement said this is a question of a constitutional right, as citizens have the right and duty to vote, and the EC should facilitate this right.

“The EC has no right to tell us that we do not qualify to register as absent voters, but that others can register because they are government servants, military (personnel) or students.

“If the EC is sincere about its promise to extend postal voting to all Malaysians overseas, it should agree to make the amendments immediately.”