Fraudulent use of postal vote is a common complaint by the Opposition. Attempts at overhauling the system has been stone-walled by the ruling party for obvious reasons…

General Election

The first ever general election in post-independent Malaya was in 1959. All in all, the country has witnessed 12 general elections, the latest being in March 2008. And if the Prime Minister does not see the urgency of dissolving the parliament to get a new mandate from the rakyat, the 13th General Election will be in 2013. The Federal Constitution requires that a general election be held once every five years. Barisan National (BN) has been winning successive general election since 1959 but suffered a setback in March 2008 when it lost its two-third majority in parliament, the first ever in the coalition’s history.

To register as a voter in Malaysia requires one to be citizen of the country and is above 21 years old. They must then register themselves as voters with the Election Commission (EC) either online or at offices sanctioned by the Commission, namely post offices.

Voting Methods

While it is possible to vote by post, proxy and in person in other countries, voting in Malaysia is restricted to these two methods only - in person and by post. However, voting by post is only available to servicemen (armed forces and police personnel), students studying abroad and those serving in Malaysian embassies overseas. Indonesia, like many Western democracies, allows its citizens living abroad to vote. This has somewhat escaped the Election Commission’s notice despite repeated attempts at alluding to such glaring anomaly

Postal vote has remained a contentious issue since the first GE in 1959. The fact that it is only restricted to the privileged few speaks volumes of its inappropriateness in this modern era. The Malayan Emergency had long gone and so had the Communist threats since the December 1989 Armistice. Our security forces no longer operate away from their home bases. With the exception of those serving on UN missions abroad, the majority of our servicemen are home-bound and are located at bases throughout the country. Is there a necessity for them to caste their votes through the mail box?

The country’s armed forces is some 80,000 strong and this number can tip the balance in someone’s favour should all of them vote. The 14,000 postal votes garnered by the BN candidate in the Setiawangsa constituency during the March 2008 election is a case in point.

Grouse

Fraudulent use of postal votes is a common complaint by the Opposition after every general election. Attempts to overhaul the system remain nothing more than lip service to placate the disgruntled. A similar effort at introducing indelible ink to prevent multiple voting was disallowed at the eleventh hour. The excuse given was that voters reserved the right not to use the ink as it had no legal standing. An amendment to the Election Regulations 1981 was required. The EC had failed to table the amendment at the Dewan Rakyat during its final session from August to December 2007.

Postal vote will not be hotly debated if it had remained true to its spirit. If it is done the way we submit our annual income tax returns to IRD via the post, there will be little to complain, as everything is above board. The voter gets his voting slip in an envelope and is required to cross the name of his candidate of choice and then mail the slip in a self-addressed envelope to the EC agent in his constituency. So long as the sealed envelope reaches the returning officer at the stipulated time, the vote is considered valid. But this is not the case insofar as our postal voting process is concerned.

New Approach

The approach to the voting process for servicemen since 1990 has assumed a new dimension. Soldiers are given their voting slips as required. The forms are numbered thus whatever party the individual soldier votes can be traced if tracking needs to be done. Thus secrecy, which is an inherent right of the voter, is being compromised. Once voting is done the soldier does not drop his sealed envelope in a mail box but into a mail bag provided by the EC instead.

In the 1990 and 1995 general elections the job of managing postal vote in the armed forces was entrusted to the Personnel Division of the Ministry of Defence. An officer was assigned to each formation headquarters in the country. The said officer would stay at his assigned location until the whole voting process was done. The mail bags with the postal votes would then be surrendered to the EC. Where these bags will eventually end is anyone‘s guess. And whether the bags will remain intact while in transit is another question altogether. The Election Commission has not given any satisfactory answers in spite of criticisms heaped upon it by the Opposition and election watchdogs.

Canvassing in army camps is strictly taboo and ground commanders are mindful of this restriction. However, there have been instances when members of the ruling party are allowed to “talk to the boys on a personal basis”. Therefore, the possibility of soldiers being smooth-talked into voting a particular party cannot be ruled out.

Gerrymandering

Postal votes will feature prominently at the coming Bagan Pinang by-election on October 11, 2009. The state constituency is home to an armoured regiment, four training establishments and the Army Recruit Training Centre. It supports a population of over 5000 service personnel which represents almost 36 percent of the total number of voters in the constituency. It will definitely have an impact on the overall result.

An equitable solution to this problem is long overdue. We have to do away with postal vote, as the process is so flawed and biased. But will the beneficiaries agree to a change when gerrymandering is their forte?

Lt Col (Rtd) Fathol Zaman Bukhari
Editorial Ipoh Echo Issue 83