A+ | A- | Reset
Home arrow Letters/Surat arrow Disenfranchising voters via technical problems at post offices?

Disenfranchising voters via technical problems at post offices? PDF Print
Tuesday, 25 December 2007 20:00

The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH) demands to know if the Election Commission (EC) is trying to prevent Malaysians from registering to vote before the year ends.

Are we seeing a repeat of what happened in the 1999 General Election, where 680,000 new voters were denied their right to vote as the EC had failed to update the electoral roll in time.

For several weeks now, we have received numerous complaints that the computers at Subang Jaya, Brickfields and Tesco Puchong post offices were 'offline' and that they had run out of voter  registration forms.

This state of affairs is unacceptable, as it defeats the purpose of having post offices assist in the registration process, which was meant to encourage Malaysians to register as voters at their convenience.

Rumours have been circulating about the General Election being held in March and therefore, end-December would be the deadline for new registrations.

If the voter registration computer network is constantly 'offline', and/or the post offices have run out of registration forms, either the EC or the Post Office must be held accountable for these technical glitches.

(For those who are unaware, Pos Malaysia receives RM1.80 in commission fees from the EC for every voter they register.)

According to the Election Commission, there are currently 4.5 million Malaysians over 21 years old who have yet to register to vote. Of that, 80% of the 4.5 million are Malays. 80% of them are below 30 years old.

The Election Commission had intended to register at least 1.5 million of them but has so far failed in its mission, partly because most of the unregistered voters are young Malays. It is no secret that the ruling coalition would rather not have them vote, as they fear a repeat of the 1999 General Election results. Not only did nearly half of all Malay voters supported the Opposition, most of them were young urban voters who were disillusioned with the ruling government.

If these 'technical' failures on the part of the EC are not due to incompetence but are politically motivated, there is reason to believe that Barisan Nasional is not confident that it can win the support of the Malay community, particularly young urban voters, in light of the hugely successful BERSIH gathering in Kuala Lumpur on 10 November 2007.

For enquiries, please contact the secretariats; Faisal Mustaffa 019-2232002 or Medeline Chang 012-2192010.

Comments (8)Add Comment
...
written by Vineeth Menon, December 25, 2007 20:54:31
This shouldn't be a surprise, This is anticipated ahead of election.

Shhhh... do not disturb..
Government is busy extending the age limit of retirement.
Also should be studying the possiblity to change the age of
the election commission and voters by providing new birth
certificate and IC..

After all those are MORE important than the addressing more
chronic issues in the society. huh...Malaysia Boleh
report abuse
disagree 0
agree 17
...
written by krising1, December 26, 2007 10:06:33
Those who have not been able to register should have prove of the inabilty to register because of no fault of theirs. If we can have one from every constituency, we can have the courts declare the whole election void. I am sure the lawyers can build a case if the evidence if collected properly from the start.

What does the election commissioner have to say about this?
report abuse
disagree 1
agree 4
...
written by Vikram, December 26, 2007 10:24:56
If this problem continues, the EC and government is at fault and they should push forward beyond March the elction date.

Please don't deny our rite to vote!!!
report abuse
disagree 0
agree 4
...
written by Dogboy, December 26, 2007 11:11:02
The young are normally the more educated with internet access and some with overseas education with a true understanding of what democracy means. Most young have realised it's time to vote and show unhappiness with the current regime. The govt do not want these people to vote. They only want the Pak Cik and Mak Cik from the kampongs who is oblivious to the govt's shortcomings to continue giving them their votes in exchange for some money like RM10
report abuse
disagree 0
agree 3
...
written by temenggong, December 26, 2007 11:18:11
Same things happen in the selection of non malay students for metriculation. They are informed by email on the last day, on a Sunday, asking them to report to college on Monday in JB! By which time the exasperated non malay students have already made alternative plans and enrolled in local private colleges. Those who miss the roll call on Monday or forgot to check their email lose out, their places given to others. Then the authorities will claim they were fair and non malays were allotted places but did not use the opportunities.
report abuse
disagree 0
agree 7
...
written by Bukit Chandan, December 26, 2007 12:09:34
Pete,

1. We would like to highlight a very important issue that has cropped up lately. There is no extremism in Islam. Islam is a perfect religion as we have already explained in our previous commentary.

Allah s.w.t. says in the Holy Quran Chapter 1: Verse 143 which means "And We have indeed made you (Islamic Ummah) an Ummatan Wasatan so as you can be the witness to (the deeds of) all mankind and so as the Prophet (Muhammad s.a.w.) can be the witness to you (deeds of the Islamic Ummah)".

From this verse, the phrase 'Ummatan Wasatan' means that an ummah who is just and the chosen one. This ummah will be the witness to all the deeds of the people that deviate from the truth be it in this world or in the Hereafter.

2. Also, the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. said which means "The best among you are the ones that do things in moderation". Moderation here refers to the characteristic of the 'Ummatan Wasatan' above.

3. From points 1 and 2, it shows that Islam does not preach extremism. In fact, the term "Islamic extremists" is being used in error to refer to "terrorists". The word "extremism" is not being properly used. This is because the people who used them do not understand Islam in a comprehensive way i.e. Islam as a way of life. The analogy here is like the story of the 3 blind men who tried to comprehend the different parts of an elephant. If all Muslims and non-Muslims really understand Islam in a comprehensive way, there would not be any "Islamic extremism" said by anyone in this world.

4. Aside to this issue, we found one flaw in our improvement plan during our review. Thus far, our improvement plan does not include the voters in general. So, in tying up this loose end and to ensure fairness to all, we will also implement Phase 12 - Cleanse the voters of corruption, ignorance of the truth and bad external influence. We do not want the citizens to elect candidates who are known as corrupted, incompetent and associated with the organized crime syndicates/communists candidates. This is to ensure the safety of our country and not to put her in jeopardy in the future.

Going into stealth mode again. Securing communications over long distances through telepathy. Over and out.......

Improvement Plan Status 26-Dec-07
=============================

Phase Action Start Date
---------------------------------
1 Cleanse the SPR 26-Nov-07
2 Cleanse the Cabinet (especially BN) 08-Dec-07
3 Cleanse the Judiciary 28-Nov-07
4 Cleanse the Police/FRU/ACA/ATM/Etc 01-Dec-07
5 Cleanse the Mainstream Media 02-Dec-07
6 Cleanse the Government Servants (Federal & States) 11-Dec-07
7 Eradicate underworld organized crime syndicates 15-Dec-07
8 Eradicate the communists 16-Dec-07
9 Cleanse the Religious Departments (Federal & States) 22-Dec-07
10 Cleanse UMNO 10-Dec-07
11 Cleanse NGOs and Businesses 10-Dec-07
12 Cleanse the voters 01-Jan-08

Phase Improvement Plan Date Line
-------------------------------------------------
1 Cleanse the SPR 31-Jan-08
2 Cleanse the Cabinet (especially BN) 10-Nov-08
3 Cleanse the Judiciary 29-Feb-08
4 Cleanse the Police/FRU/ACA/ATM/Etc 30-Jun-08
5 Cleanse the Mainstream Media 31-Mar-08
6 Cleanse the Government Servants (Federal & States) 31-Dec-08
7 Eradicate underworld organized crime syndicates 30-Jun-09
8 Eradicate the communists 31-Dec-09
9 Cleanse the Religious Departments (Federal & States) 31-Dec-08
10 Cleanse UMNO 31-Dec-07
11 Cleanse NGOs and Businesses 31-Jan-08
12 Cleanse the voters 30-Apr-08

The metrics to be used to gauge the performances and results of the Improvement Plan are as follows:

Phase Metrics
--------------------
1 Clean SPR 100% of corruption and abuse of authority
2.1 Clean the Cabinet 99% of corruption and abuse of power
2.2 Restore 100% the original powers of the DYMM SPB YDPA and Conference of Rulers
3 Clean the Judiciary 100% of corruption and abuse of Justice
4 Clean the Police/FRU/ACA/ATM/Etc 99% of corruption and abuse of authority
5 Clean the Government Servants 99% of corruption and abuse of responsibilities
6 Clean the Mainstream Media 99% of corruption and biased journalism
7 Eradicate the country 100% of underworld organized crime syndicates
8 Eradicate the country 100% of communists
9 Clean the Religious Departments 100% of all corruption and abuse of responsibilities
10 Clean UMNO 99% of corruption and traitors to the YDPA, Malay Rulers and the Malays
11 Clean NGOs and Businesses 99% of corruption and unethical business practices
12 Clean the voters 99% of corruption, ignorance of the truth and bad external influences

Note: The implementation phases can be carried out concurrently.

Best Regards.........
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
report abuse
disagree 1
agree 1
...
written by matkela, December 26, 2007 20:27:46
This a case for my wife, a legit voter, requested only for tukar alamat mengundi since 13 November 2007, thro Pos Msia. No change till today. Our new area is deemed black by BN, her old area being safe over the past terms.
Suruhanjaya Pilihan comes to mind, vote splitting within a small family comes another.
report abuse
disagree 0
agree 0
...
written by Harbinger, December 28, 2007 21:38:54
It's true.My son went twice to the Post Office - once in Pulau Tikus,Penang and once in Tesco.Twice,he was told that it was offline.I finally got him registered through the Gerakan office.They'll happily do it.Who cares how it is done? They can help us register but they're not getting the vote!!
report abuse
disagree 0
agree 0

Write comment
This content has been locked. You can no longer post any comment.
You must be logged in to a comment. Please register if you do not have an account yet.

busy
 
< Prev   Next >
 
Some Images Hosted With
Thank You ImageShack!
 BLOGGERS AGAINST ISA

Powered and Optimized for:
Malaysia Today by MT-TEAM