A non-governmental organisation has reiterated the call to allow postal voting for Malaysian citizens living abroad.
PETALING
JAYA: MyOverseasVote, a loosely formed non-governmental organisation to
safeguard the electoral interest of Malaysians living abroad, today
accused Election Commission chairman Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof and his
deputy Wan Ahmad Wan Omar of deceiving and cheating Malaysians living
overseas.
In a statement, MyOverseasVote also called on both the EC top-ranking
officials to resign immediately as they had failed to keep up their
promise to allow Malaysians residing overseas to vote at the upcoming
general election.
“Abdul Aziz has given the clearest indication yet that the EC has no
intention of implementing overseas voting for Malaysians before the 13th
general election… in contempt of the recommendations of the
Parliamentary Select Committee on Electoral Reform, which were endorsed
by the Dewan Rakyat.”
“The EC is the body entrusted by the Federal Constitution with the
preparation and revision of electoral rolls and the conduct of elections
to the Dewan Rakyat and the State Legislative Assemblies.
“The EC has its own legal staff and a RM700 million budget and is
given wide rule-making powers both by Article 113(5) and by the
Elections Act 1958,” the NGO said in the statement.
MyOverseasVote highlighted the jurisdiction of the EC, among them the
ability to “make regulations for the registration of electors, to make
regulations for the conduct of elections and for all matters incidental
thereto”.
“These regulations can be made by the EC with the approval of the
Yang di-Pertuan Agong, and then laid before the Dewan Rakyat, which can
reject them.
“Sub-section 16(n) of the Act specifically gives the EC the power to
make regulations to prescribe the facilities to be provided for voting
by post and the persons entitled to vote by post.”
“It is inconceivable that the EC, with its own legal staff, does not know its own rule-making powers.” said MyOverseasVote.
The statement said the EC drafted the Elections (Postal Voting)
Regulations 2003 which set out the present categories of eligible postal
voters.
Furthermore, regulation 3(f) of the Regulations specifically allows
the EC to gazette new categories of postal voters without obtaining the
approval of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong or the Dewan Rakyat, the NGO said.
“In order to deflect attention from their 13 months of deliberate
inaction, Abdul Aziz and his deputy Wan Ahmad, have repeatedly expressed
their disappointment at the small numbers of Malaysians overseas who
have registered to vote overseas.
“This is despite the fact that it is currently impossible for
Malaysians who are not students or government servants to register as
overseas voters,” added MyOverseasVote.
The NGO said Malaysians have had enough of EC’s deceit and inaction
and that it was clear that the aim of the EC “all along has been to
deceive overseas Malaysians with promises while having absolutely no
intention of implementing overseas postal voting before the 13th general
election”.
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