Immediately allow overseas voters to be registered as postal voters - MP
Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching is calling on the Election Commission (EC) to allow overseas-based voters to be registered as postal voters immediately.
Citing the recent Malacca state assembly election, Teo said that overseas voters were only given 13 days to register to vote.
"According to the EC, the implementation...
Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching is calling on the Election Commission (EC) to allow overseas-based voters to be registered as postal voters immediately.
Citing the recent Malacca state assembly election, Teo said that overseas voters were only given 13 days to register to vote.
"According to the EC, the implementation of Undi18 and Automatic Voter Registration (AVR) has been gazetted on Dec 15, 2021, thus taken into effect just in time for Johor state election that will take place in a matter of weeks," she said.
Teo said the impact of the new laws would result in an increase of almost 750,000 new voters, including 175,000 new voters aged below 21 years.
"Additionally, the implementation of the AVR will make the process quicker for new voters to be automatically registered in the electoral voting roll.
"Having said that, new voters should still check their registration status and their constituency on the electoral roll at https://mysprsemak.spr.gov.my/.
"Further to that, I call on the EC to allow voters to be registered as postal voters immediately as voters overseas," she said.
Teo added that there was no reason why the online postal voting application could not start now for the Johor election.
This follows her call on Jan 27 for the EC to establish overseas polling stations in Singapore ahead of the 2022 Johor state polls - in light of the significant number of voters residing and working in the neighbouring country.
She had previously noted that there are 400,000 Malaysians working in Singapore - with many likely being Johoreans.
Vote to change nation's direction
Teo said that while it was important to remind young people to vote, it is equally important to remember why voting matters, especially within the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Young graduates and entry-level workers are most impacted by the ruins of it, with them being affected by the loss of jobs, wage insecurity and lack of housing affordability.
"For example, young workers bore the brunt of the economic fragility during the continuous movement control orders of 2020, being that youth unemployment reached 12.5 percent, as compared to 10.5 percent in 2019.
"As an extension of that, when youth workers withdraw from the labour force, they turn to the gig economy and self-employment, which pose greater risks, seeing as these are less protected and less secure," she said.
Teo said that young people could turn the situation around by carrying out their responsibility to vote.
She called on Johorean youths to take on the responsibility of changing the nation's direction towards a better future and correcting what has been wronged in the political landscape.
"Though all is not lost for the young, as they are largely vocal on their discontent with the current government and how little assistance was given to aid their economic situation.
"These issues will only continue to worsen if we do not carry out the responsibility at the ballot box.
"It is up to all of us to vote in the coming elections for better candidates that want to see improvement in living conditions, creating structural safety nets and assistance for uncertain times like the pandemic, and inclusive of new and young voices in the nation-building process," Teo said.
On Jan 22, Johor ruler Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar consented to incumbent Menteri Besar Hasni Mohammad's request to dissolve the state assembly, paving the way for fresh polls which must be called within 60 days.
The EC will announce the date for the state election on Feb 9.
