Allowing members of all political parties to become assistant registration officers (ARO) will help boost voter registration in Malaysia, DAP Socialist Youth (Dapsy) national chief Teo Kok Seong said today.

"We are trying to help the government and the Election Commission (EC) to register more voters. In fact, it is good for our country to do this," Teo said in Putrajaya.

He was there to submit a memorandum to the EC requesting that members of all political parties be allowed to become AROs.

Since the last general election in 2013, the EC has stopped registering members of NGOs and political parties as AROs.

However, early last month the electoral reform group Bersih criticised the EC for allowing personnel from the Department of Special Affairs (Jasa) to become AROs.

Jasa is a department under the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia.

Many of these Jasa personnel either have links to BN or BN-linked NGOs such as Perkasa and Gerakan Belia 4B, Bersih said.

"For Pakatan Rakyat, especially DAP, I think none of us are officers in Jasa. This is the problem," Teo said.

‘Let us help the EC’

There is a simple solution to this problem, he said. This is to allow members of all political parties to become AROs.

Teo said this would actually help the EC, since it has been making efforts to encourage voter registration by keeping its offices open on weekends as well.

However, Teo said, the people were reluctant to go directly to the EC office to register.

"We have received lots of complaints from people, because it used to be so easy before to register voters," Teo said, referring to Dapsy's registration drives that were held in markets and malls.

It would even be better, he said, if all citizens can be automatically registered as voters once they turn 21. This is the model adopted in Singapore.

"We can try using this model to encourage all citizens to fulfil their responsibility (as voters)," Teo explained.