Malaysia: Voters warned against posting ballot papers online | Borneo Post

Voters are warned not to take photos of their ballot papers and share it through the Internet as it is a serious offence. “Voting is confidential. They are not supposed to take photograph and post it online – on Facebook, Twitter or anywhere else,” said State Elections Commission director Datu Takun Sunggah when met by The Borneo Post recently. “They should not do that. Don’t expose anything which should be confidential.” He added that this applied to all voters regardless if they were voting at the polling station or voting through post.

Malaysia: Situating Malaysia’s Thirteenth General Election: Not All About the Outcome | CFR

If all goes according to plan, election-watchers of all sorts will be thick on the ground for Malaysia’s upcoming thirteenth general elections. Admittedly, that plan is dependent upon rounding up and training an extraordinary number of volunteers, and doubtless will be forced to exclude the least accessible, but purportedly most watch-worthy districts. But what tends to get lost in the tea leaf-reading and data-crunching of this long-awaited showdown is the why behind such widespread interest in process and participation, which extends well beyond the polls themselves. Malaysia has seen heightened mobilization since 2008, if not since Reformasi in the late 1990s—part of why the unusually prolonged run-up to the polls has seemed so, well, long. This more sustained mobilization represents a true trend toward “democratization” in Malaysia, beyond the mere act of voting.

Malaysia: Election Commission announces pre-emptive measures to ensure smooth polls | Asia One

What happens if a ballot box in an Election Commission boat gets swept away by strong currents in crocodile-infested waters? Will campaigning in a constituency continue if one of the candidates dies before polling day? And who wins if two candidates contesting a seat receive the same number of votes? These are just some of the out-of-the-ordinary hypothetical scenarios that the EC has prepared for as part of its overall effort to ensure a smooth 13th general election. EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said ballot boxes transported by river in the interior of Sabah and Sarawak will be fitted with floats to prevent them from getting lost en route to the counting centre. “This precaution was taken in the Tenang by-election as well as the Sarawak state polls in 2011. “We have tested the float-fitted ballot boxes by throwing them into swimming pools to ascertain that they do not sink,” he added in an interview.

Malaysia: Malaysians to go to the polls on May 5 | Straits Times

Malaysians will go to the polls on May 5, a Sunday, while nominations will be held on April 20, the Election Commission announced Wednesday. The 15-day campaign period is the longest since 1982, when a similar length of time was also permitted. EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof asked Malaysians to ensure that the electoral process is smooth and peaceful.

Malaysia: Fresh Elections Offer Striking Choice – Malaysia Prepares for a Close Election Fight | Wall Street Journal

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s call for fresh elections presents his fractured, multiethnic country with a stark choice: Stick with a ruling party that has governed the Muslim-majority nation for over half a century, or usher in an era of potentially sweeping change by electing Anwar Ibrahim’s opposition alliance. The date remains to be set by Malaysia’s Election Commission after Mr. Najib dissolved Parliament on Wednesday. But the race already is shaping up to be the most important and closely fought contest since independence from Britain in 1957, and one that could radically alter the future of what is widely regarded as one of the Islamic world’s most dynamic nations. Since taking office four years ago, Mr. Najib, 59 years old, has nudged through reforms aimed at outflanking Mr. Anwar’s supporters and containing a growing clamor for greater accountability and more democracy. After several mass rallies on the streets of Kuala Lumpur in recent years, Mr. Najib scrapped a decades-old law enabling security forces to detain critics without trial, and began chipping away at a sprawling affirmative-action program designed to help the majority ethnic-Malay Muslim population catch up with generally wealthier ethnic Chinese.

Malaysia: Prime Minister dissolves parliament to hold elections | USAToday

Malaysia’s prime minister dissolved Parliament on Wednesday to call for general elections that will be contested between a coalition that has ruled for nearly 57 years and a resurgent opposition whose pledge to form a cleaner government has resonated with millions of citizens. The polls are widely expected within a month after Prime Minister Najib Razak said in a nationally televised address that he had obtained royal consent from Malaysia’s constitutional monarch to dissolve Parliament immediately. Najib used his speech to urge more than 13 million eligible voters in Malaysia to give his National Front coalition a strong mandate and to reject opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s three-party alliance.

Malaysia: Facing Tests, Malaysia’s Leader Calls for Elections | New York Times

The Malaysian prime minister, Najib Razak, announced he would dissolve Parliament on Wednesday, launching a critical election campaign for his multiethnic coalition, which has been in power since independence from Britain more than five decades ago. After years of what amounted to one-party rule in Malaysia, the country’s opposition parties have been ascendant, challenging a system that is based on ethnicity. Chinese voters, who make up about one quarter of the country’s population of nearly 30 million, have abandoned the ruling coalition in large numbers. And the country’s main Malay ethnic group, which has dominated politics in the country for five decades, is divided.

Malaysia: UN experts urge Malaysia to protect poll activists | Channel NewsAsia

UN human rights experts have denounced what they called “disturbing” harassment of Malaysian activists who are pushing for election reform and urged the government to protect them. The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections staged a rally by tens of thousands in Kuala Lumpur on April 28 that ended with protesters clashing with police, who arrested more than 500 people. Since then, leaders of the coalition, which groups dozens of non-governmental organisations, have complained of an official campaign to “demonise” them and of tacit harassment by authorities of coalition members.

Malaysia: Analysts say rally fallout could delay Malaysia polls | Channel NewsAsia

Recent police clashes with election-reform protesters in Malaysia have dented premier Najib Razak’s reform credentials and may force him to push back elections, analysts say. Najib was widely expected to set a June date for what is predicted to be a close battle between his ruling coalition and the opposition led by Anwar Ibrahim, but observers say Saturday’s protest may have changed his thinking. Tens of thousands took to the streets of the capital Kuala Lumpur to demand clean elections, defying government curbs on the rally. Angry demonstrators broke through barricades and clashed with police, who fired tear gas and chemical-laced water on crowds and arrested 512 people. All have since been released. Analysts say the events may have tarnished Najib’s efforts to win votes by pledging to loosen the long-ruling coalition’s authoritarianism.

Malaysia: Ban lifted, students now allowed to join politics | Channel NewsAsia

Malaysia will lift a decades-old ban on university students joining political parties. Bills to amend three laws were tabled for the first reading in Parliament on Monday. The move was part of Prime Minister Najib Razak’s social transformation plan announced last year to allow greater civil liberties to the people. Malaysia’s higher education minister, Khalid Nordin, tabled three bills in parliament on Monday to amend three laws, namely the education and colleges acts, private higher education as well as education institutions acts, basically to allow students to join political parties. But they cannot stand for election or take parts in any unlawful or illegal assemblies.

Malaysia: Expatriates Lobby for Overseas Voting Rights | NYTimes.com

Nurul Syaheedah Jes Izman, 27, a graduate of New York University, lives in New Jersey and works on Wall Street as a financial analyst. Though she has spent her college years and all of her working life in the United States, she closely follows political developments in her native Malaysia, reading Malaysian news Web sites every day and talking with friends and family back home about the issues. But under current Malaysian law, Ms. Nurul Syaheedah will not be able to vote in the next election, widely expected this year, unless she makes the 23-hour trip home. The only Malaysians living overseas who are allowed to vote by absentee ballot are government workers, military personnel and full-time students and their spouses. “The right to vote is a basic right of all citizens,” Ms. Nurul Syaheedah said in an e-mail. “No one should be disenfranchised in this time and age, even from a different location overseas. We are all rightful stakeholders in our nation.”

Malaysia: Lawmakers Recommend Changes to Malaysian Electoral System | NYTimes.com

A parliamentary committee recommended a series of changes to the Malaysian electoral system on Tuesday, but opposition groups and activists said they did not go far enough to ensure a level playing field for elections widely expected later this year. The committee, which consisted of five members of the governing coalition, three opposition members and one independent, was set up last year by Prime Minister Najib Razak following a rally that brought tens of thousands of people into the streets calling for greater transparency and fairness in elections. Its report contained 22 proposals, including steps to ensure that the electoral rolls list only legitimate voters, that political candidates have equal access to the news media and that the Election Commission function independently of partisan politics. The lower house adopted the report later in the day.

Malaysia: Malaysia urged to roll out reforms before polls | Channel NewsAsia

Malaysia’s electoral reform group Bersih wants Prime Minister Najib Razak to hold off polls until all proposed reforms have been implemented. The coalition of 62 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) also vows to return to the streets, if the election commission fails to clean up the electoral roll. This comes after a government report showed thousands of cases of multiple voters being registered under the same addresses. Amid swirling rumours of a general election in June this year, Prime Minister Najib faces renewed pressure to deliver on his promise for electoral reform. This, especially after a state-run agency’s report revealed more than 11,000 cases where multiple voters were registered under the same address nationwide. Of these, 820 cases had more than 100 voters registered under a single address.

Malaysia: Election Commission chairman clarifies postal voting issue | BorneoPost

Election Commission (EC) chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said yesterday he had never suggested that only tax-paying Malaysians overseas are allowed to become postal voters. Instead, he said, what he suggested was that in determining the eligibility of Malaysians abroad to become postal voters, they might need to fulfill certain conditions as practised in other countries. This is due to the fact that not all Malaysians abroad are eligible to become postal voters, he told reporters after receiving the Umar Abdul Aziz Award at the state-level Maulidur Rasul celebration here yesterday. For instance, he said, there were countries which allowed their citizens to become postal voters provided that they had been abroad no longer than five years and had made a trip back home during the period. In some countries, he said, the period allowable was four years.

Malaysia: The Election Commission and absent Malaysian voters | ALIRAN

The time has come for the EC to fulfil the task of helping Malaysians to exercise their right as voters rather than excluding some because of an archaic interpretation, writes Christopher Chong. Article 119 of the Federal Constitution gives the right to vote in elections to every Malaysian citizen who is 21 or above. The Article defines a voter as being either a resident of a constituency or an absent voter. A resident of a constituency simply means someone who lives in a constituency in which he or she has registered with the Election Commission (EC) to vote in.

Malaysia: Absent Malaysian voters’ status: Decision on Jan 6 | Free Malaysia Today

The Election Commission (EC) has failed to state any reason or basis to justify the exclusion of six Malaysians residing and working abroad from being registered as absent voters for the next general election, the High Court was told today.

Counsel Edmund Bon, representing the six, said the EC rejected their requests on the grounds that they did not qualify for registration as absent voters under the definition of “absent voter” pursuant to the Elections (Registration of Electors) Regulations 2002. “But the EC did not justify its decision or the objective of the regulation, which allows some citizens and some not,” he submitted in the judicial review application filed by six Malaysians residing and working in the United Kingdom to compel the EC to register them as absent voters.

Malaysia: Malaysian Political Parties Asked To Scrutinise Electoral Roll To Clear Doubts | Bernama

The Election Commission (EC) has called on political parties to assist in scrutinising the electoral roll to clear doubts on the voters’ list for the coming 13th general election. EC deputy chairman Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar said it was regrettable that certain groups, especially the opposition parties, have often alleged that the electoral roll contains phantom voters.

“Allegations linking the electoral roll with phantom voters are stale issues, as we have taken many measures to ensure the electoral roll is clean,” he told Bernama here. Wan Ahmad said the opposition, who frequently raise the issue of phantom voters, should come out with proof and not make wild allegations. “Who are the phantom voters? Why not expose them, as EC would like to catch them and bring them to court as well,” he said.

Malaysia: New reforms by Election Commission spell transparency | The Star

The use of indelible ink, among other reforms announced by the Election Commission on Monday, will go a long way in assuring people that the next general election will be above board. The Election Commission’s (EC) decision to use indelible ink in the next general election, among other ground-breaking measures recommended by the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC), has been welcomed and will put an end to persistent allegations of double voting and other forms of electoral fraud.

In a situation where belief in the voting process has taken a knock, it is only natural that indelible ink be brought into play to restore faith in the electoral system. The acceptance of the ink also shows that the Government welcomes any move to ensure greater credibility of the vote and electoral transparency.

Malaysia: Gerakan recommends reforms to PSC | thesundaily.my

All eligible Malaysian citizens must be allowed to vote, no matter where they are, and the Election Commission must facilitate this process, Gerakan Deputy President Datuk Chang Ko Youn told the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on electoral reform. This right to vote is one of five recommendations submitted by Chang to the PSC on the committee’s second day of public hearing on electoral reform yesterday.

“In principle, every Malaysian regardless of his or her geographic location, inside or outside the country, must be allowed to exercise the right to vote. The Election Commission (EC) and our foreign missions must set up a fair and effective mechanism to facilitate this process,” said Chang in statement.

Malaysia: I was denied voting rights, says ex-Cambridge scholar | asiaone.com

A former government scholar who studied in Britain complained to the Parliamentary Select Committee on electoral reforms that he was denied his voting rights when he tried to register in 2007. Dr Shawn Tan, who was studying at Cambridge University then, said he tried to register with the Malaysian High Commission in Britain as a postal voter but was told that he could not vote.

“The consul said only government servants could vote,” he told PSC on the second day of its public hearing yesterday. Dr Tan said he sent an e-mail to the Election Commission but did not receive any reply.

Malaysia: Malaysians abroad demand right to vote | TruthDive

A group of Malaysians have taken election authorities to court demanding to extend voting rights to nearly 1 million overseas citizens. A group of Malaysians called “My Overseas Vote” said in a statement that six citizens working in the United Kingdom have asked the Kuala Lumpur High Court to force the Election Commission to register them as voters before the next general elections, widely expected by mid-2012.

”To say that only certain groups of citizens are allowed the postal ballot is nonsense that amounts to outright discrimination,” Teo Hoon Seong, one of the litigants, said in the statement. The court is scheduled to hear the first round of arguments on Nov. 14 on whether to allow a full hearing for the lawsuit.

Malaysia: Vote sought for overseas Malaysians | TODAYonline

A group of Malaysians have sued election authorities in what they described as an attempt to extend voting rights to nearly one million citizens living abroad. Rights activists have long criticised restrictions that prevent most Malaysians abroad from casting ballots. Exceptions include government workers, military personnel and full-time students.

A group of Malaysians called “My Overseas Vote” said in a statement that six citizens working in the United Kingdom have asked the Kuala Lumpur High Court to force the Election Commission to register them as voters before the next general elections, widely expected next year.

Malaysia: Police net seven cyber-crooks who siphoned off RM250,000 | theSundaily

Using a combination of phishing and hijacking handphone numbers, a syndicate siphoned out about a quarter million ringgit from some online banking accounts over the past nine months. Police learnt just how elaborate the syndicate’s modus operandi was only after crippling the gang of cyber crooks with the arrest of six people in a raid on Friday.

The suspects aged between 20 and 27 comprised a Sierra Leone national said to be the mastermind, a male Jordanian and a male Pakistani, and four Malaysians, two of whom were women.

They were nabbed when a federal commercial crimes investigations department CCID team led by cyber crimes and multimedia head ACP Kamaruddin Md Din raided the apartment at the Millenium Square at Section 14, Petaling Jaya where police also seized computers, fake MyKad and bank cards.

Malaysia: Election Commission should fine-tune voting options list | The Star

For nearly one million Malaysians based abroad, postal voting will soon become a reality. The Elections Commission (EC) has rightly been commended for this move, which respects the right of voters to vote even when based overseas, makes it convenient for them to do so, and helps them maintain ties with their home country.

So far, only full-time Malaysian students as well as civil servants and their spouses abroad may cast postal ballots, with many others employed in the private sector left out. Widening the option of postal voting is definitely an improvement, but the EC should go further. The procedure for postal voting takes time, is circuitous, and thus may raise doubts about the security and confidentiality of the ballots.

Malaysia: Knives out for Malaysia’s Najib | Asia Times

Just over a month after a large rally in Kuala Lumpur to demand clean and fair elections rattled Malaysia’s ruling elite, Prime Minister Najib Razak has announced that a bipartisan parliamentary select committee will be set up to review the electoral system. The move comes as Najib’s government faces rising pressures on several political fronts, including a speculated challenge to his leadership from inside his own party.

Najib’s announcement has been interpreted as an attempt to placate disquiet about the integrity of the electoral process before the next general election, which must be held before mid-2013, and to prevent any repeat protest rally to press home the demands. The political opposition has claimed elections are structurally set up to favor the long-ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO) and Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

Malaysia: Electoral reform panel gets mixed reactions | BorneoPost

While some quarters have hailed the setting up of the parliamentary select committee on electoral reform announced Monday by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, others are awaiting for more details on the panel.

The MCA, Gerakan, MIC and Transparency International Malaysia are among the organisations which have welcomed the proposed panel. Opposition political party PAS wants to know about the composition of the panel and its terms of reference while a DAP MP has demanded government sincerity in the matter. Najib had made the announcement when addressing a ‘buka puasa’ (breaking-of-the-fast) gathering with the media hosted by Malaysian National News Agency, Bernama, at Wisma Bernama here Monday night.

Malaysia: Road Map For Automatic Voter Registration Needed – Saifuddin | Bernama

A road map needs to be instituted to enable Malaysians reaching the age of 21 to be automatically registered as voters, said Deputy Higher Education Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah. He said that he was not only in favour of this but also reducing the voting age to 18.

“Though these are not possible for the next general election, nevertheless, a road map needs to be in place to realise these matters.

“To have a great decracy, we need as many people as possible to come out and vote. To achieve this, we must make it easier for the people to do so (vote),” he said at the Electoral Reform and Purification of Democracy Forum organised by the Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement (Abim) and the Abim Lawyers Group (GPA) at Kolej Dar Al-Hikmah here today.

Malaysia: Biometric voting: ‘No way Election Commission is ready’ | Free Malaysia Today

The Election Commission (EC) is unlikely to be ready to introduce the biometric voter system if the general election is held in November this year.
This is the view of Port Dickson assemblyman M Ravi. Speaking to FMT, he said: “I can say the biometric system won’t come into effect if Parliament dissolved in November.

“Yesterday, it was reported that EC deputy chairman Wan Ahmad Wan Omar said the EC will explain biometric system to all parties concerned before implementing it. The EC expects to do this by year-end. “But I believe by the time the EC completes the explanation, the 13th general election will be over.”

Malaysia: Government, Election Commission To Discuss Need For Constitution Amendment To Enable Students Abroad To Vote – Najib | Bernama

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the government will discuss with the Election Commission on whether there is a need to amend the Federal Constitution to allow Malaysian students abroad to vote.

“If there is a need to allow students studying abroad to vote, we will look into it and discuss with the Election Commission,” he said in response to a question raised by a student during a dialogue at the 5th Annual Malaysian Student Leaders Summit here today, after delivering his closing speech.

“We have to get a two-thirds majority before such an amendment can take place. We will look into it and maybe get the support from the opposition for the two-third majority,” he said. He said the government was committed to electoral reforms and addressing the issue of phantom voters, and that one of the steps taken was to introduce the biometric system.

Malaysia: Electoral reforms soon, says Malaysia PM Najib | Straits Times

The Government is committed to electoral reforms and ensuring that parliamentary democracy is forever maintained, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

‘I am committed to electoral reform. We will undertake it. For example, there are concerns about phantom voters. We will ensure there is no chance for phantom voters,’ he said at the fifth annual Malaysian Student Leaders Summit here on Sunday.