Should postal voting be abolished and members of the police and armed forces be required to vote in the same way as civilians?

Should servicemen and police personnel from Peninsular Malaysia or Sabah be allowed to vote in the elections in Sarawak?

These questions were posed by the newly-elected DAP state assemblyperson for Bukit Assek, Richard Wong Ho Leng.

He told malaysiakini that postal voting is always one-sided in favour of the Barisan Nasional (BN) and has the potential to tip the scale in close fights.

He cited at least two constituences in the May 20 state elections where DAP candidates won in Chinese areas but lost because of postal votes.

In Pelawan, DAP's Dr Ting Chek Ming lost by a 263-vote margin to BN-Supp's Vincent Goh Chung Siong because of this, he claimed.

In Dudong, where the BN-Supp incumbent and assistant minister Dr Soon Choon Teck beat DAP's Stephen Lu Cheng Kuok by a 408-vote margin, Wong said his party candidate won in the predominantly Chinese area but the gain was wiped out by the 1,185 postal votes which went to the BN while his party secured only 22 postal votes.

Election petitions

Meanwhile, Wong asked if police or armed forces personnel, who hail from other states, but stationed in Sarawak should be allowed to cast their ballots in the state elections.

They must have registered as electors with the Election Commission in their home constituencies in other states, unless they have been a resident in Sarawak for a long time, he said.

To ensure fair play, he added that polling stations or booths could be set up in outside the military or police compound where polling agents of candidates could be present to witness the entire process.

Meanwhile, Wong said the party was still collecting reports from the various candidates to determine if there were grounds to file election petitions. An election petition has to filed within 21 days from the gazetted date of the official polls results.

So far, he said, there were grounds to believe that postal votes could be bought in the three constituencies in Sibu - Bawang Assan, Pelawan and Dudong. He added that his party was ready to furnish the evidence to the relevant authorities.

The state DAP chairperson also said his party would furnish evidence to support the claim that Supp had more money than allowed in one of the Sibu constituencies.

He also said claimed that Supp had given out gravel and sand to voters, despite knowing this was against the Election Act.

DAP contested in12 state seats and won six.