Pointing out what it said is a contradiction in Pakatan Rakyat's views on electoral reforms, Gerakan today called for the opposition coalition to be consistent in their stand on postal voting.

"How can they accept postal voting for overseas voters if they are against postal voting here," Gerakan president Koh Tsu Koon told reporters at a press conference in Parliament House today.

Koh, who is also a senator, said that while the opposition had claimed that postal voting locally is open to manipulation, it is still pushing for it to be implemented for overseas Malaysians.

He added that the concern with postal voting for overseas residents would still be the same as the ones raised by the opposition about postal voting in country. “The question is how fair it is, how transparent it is... and how can we be sure that the vote is sent by the person himself and not by another party.”

However, in principle, the minister said that he too support the rights of all Malaysian to be given the opportunity to exercise their right to vote.

“But we must distinguish between the principle, something which we want to happen, with the legality and technicality needed to make it happen,” he said, clarifying that he himself favoured advance voting as opposed to postal voting.

Koh said that a mechanism must be mooted to give overseas Malaysians their voting rights but also ensure that it is feasible and can be implemented, giving as an example the voting in person by Indonesians at embassies overseas as practiced by the country.

However, he did not elaborate on what mechanism would accomplish that, asking instead that all parties let the parliamentary select committee (PSC) on electoral reforms to do its job and come up with what is needed.

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