With just over a month until Parliament is widely expected to be dissolved for the 13th general election, overseas Malaysians have urged the Election Commission (EC) to reveal the amended postal voting regulations immediately to solve the current confusion.

NONE “Overseas Malaysians are still in the dark about whether, and how, they will be able to vote by post as promised by the EC in the coming general election,” said MyOverseasVote (MOV), a group formed by overseas Malaysians to lobby for their voting rights in the next general election.

In a statement issued recently, MOV pointed out that different Malaysian missions in different countries have been giving out confusing instructions to Malaysians abroad.

The mission in Qatar, United Arab Emirates, had reportedly presented local Malaysians with a 30-minute window to register themselves, while the mission in Shangha, China,  has stopped taking ordinary voter registration since July 2012.

Some voters residing in Shanghai or who once lived in that city have found themselves being registered as postal voters without their consent, claimed MOV.

“Only one mission (London) has been able to tell us what they know about the proposed registration and voting process for postal voters.

“We have been told that overseas Malaysians will be required to have returned to Malaysia for at least 30 days within the past five years, and will be able to register using a new Form 1B that will be made available online and which can be processed within seven to 10 working days.

“But the registration process cannot begin because the EC has yet to gazette the amended regulations for overseas postal voters,” said the group.

azlan Hence MOV wants the EC to answer for the shambles and get its house in order by releasing the amended postal voting regulations immediately so that these can be scrutinised by stakeholders.

The announcement of the new regulations will also enable Malaysian missions overseas and postal voting agents in each constituency to be properly briefed and trained, MOV explained.

“Given widespread distrust of the EC’s impartiality and ability to safeguard against fraud, overseas Malaysians need to know exactly what safeguards are being put in place before they register to vote by post in the coming general election.

“Having campaigned for over two years in order to gain the right to vote by post, MOV undertakes to scrutinise the regulations as soon as they are gazetted and issue guidelines on minimising the risk of fraud.”

‘Ten days is insufficient’

MOV is also concerned about the unresolved issue on whether the campaign period would be long enough to allow postal voting to be carried out and the ballots to be sent to Malaysia.

azlan “We believe that the current minimum of 10 days is insufficient for the postal voting system to work using normal postal services, though we understand that overseas voters will have the option of having their postal ballots sent and returned via diplomatic pouch through participating Malaysian missions (embassies, high commissions or consulates).

“It is still unclear which Malaysian missions will be voting centres and which will not be, and whether these missions will put in place special measures for Malaysians to cast their votes after normal office hours, as many Malaysians will need to travel long distances in order to reach the nearest participating mission.”

Nevertheless, MOV encouraged overseas Malaysians, especially the 400,000 Malaysians working in Singapore, to return home to vote if they could afford the time and expense.

“We also encourage returnees to join the Jom Pantau initiative by Bersih to monitor the conduct of the elections in Malaysia.

The EC has repeatedly announced that overseas Malaysians will be able to vote via post in the next general election, but the required legal amendments and details of how this will be implemented have yet to be announced, resulting in confusion among Malaysian missions overseas and overseas Malaysians.

MOV also revealed that the appeal of the six overseas Malaysians against the Kuala Lumpur High Court rejection of the application for judicial review of the EC’s refusal to register them as absent voters would proceed as usual on Feb 28, unless the new regulations come into effect before that.