Election Commission should set up an all-party review committee with representation from interested NGOs on overhaul of election laws and regulations to ensure a clean, free,  fair and efficient  election system for  Malaysia

(Petaling Jaya, Monday): Last Friday in a special interview with New Straits Times, the Election Commission Chairman Datuk Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman announced that from next year, eligible Malaysians will be able to register as voters on any working day at the designated authorised places like post offices, district offices and national and state registration departments.

If this new system of voter registration is implemented, it is most welcome as it  will go a long way to redeem the Election Commission’s tarnished image in the last general election when it became a national and international laughing-stock in taking nine months to revise its electoral register  and in the process disenfranchised 650,000 new voters who registered in April/May 1999 from casting their vote in the general polls on November 29, 1999.

In other countries,  the agencies responsible for conducting elections and registering voters  would go out of their   way to ensure that every eligible voter is registered so that he or she could exercise the constitutional right to vote during general elections. In the 27th November 1999 New Zealand general election, for instance, eligible voters could even register on the eve of polling to cast their votes the  next day.

In Malaysia, however,  the Election Commission in Malaysia operated under very different dynamics in the run-up to the last general election, taking nine long months to complete the registration and gazetting of  650,000 new voters effectively disenfranchising them, when the commission’s client charter stipulated that the verification and gazetting of electoral rolls should not exceed six months.

As a result, the Election Commission’s independence,  professionalism and reputation plunged to an all-time low.  Although the disenfranchisement of 650,000 new young voters  suited the agenda of the Prime Minister and the Barisan Nasional, the  1999 general election result would be very different with far-reaching changes to Malaysia’s political development if the 650,000 new young voters had been able to exercise their constitutional right to vote.

Has Abdul Rashid conducted an intensive investigation as to why the Election Commission took nine long months to complete its voters’ registration exercise in 1999, effectively disenfranchising 650,000 new young voters their constitutional right to vote, when the commission’s client charter stipulated a six-month deadline and other countries like New Zealand could register voters  as late as the polling day eve for their voting right to be exercised?

I am cautious however in  expressing my welcome for the proposal for the  system where an eligible voter can be registered with the Election Commission on any working day, for there is no guarantee that it would be implemented next year or be in time to benefit eligible voters for the next general election.

I am somewhat disturbed by two of Abdul Rashid’s remarks  on the new voters’ registration system to be introduced next year, firstly that the entire new process of voters’ registration would be "shortened" to less than three months, and secondly, that it was the government which had directed the Commission to "expedite these processes".

Rashid should respond to three questions about the proposed "voter can register on any working day" system:
 

• why the system could not be introduced this year itself;
• why it has to take three long months before an eligible Malaysian becomes a qualified voter who could exercise the constitutional right to vote in a by-election or general election; and
• why the Commission must act on the "directive" of the government to "expedite these processes" when it should be independent, receiving inputs from all political parties and interested NGOs and not be subservient to the ruling coalition of the day.

Abdul Rashid said that a committee, which includes officials from the Attorney-General’s chambers, was formed after the last general election to review and amend the ten election laws and regulations in the country.

As Article 114(2) provides for an independent Election Commission which "enjoys public confidence", it must not be  subservient to any political party, whether in power or opposition and operate with full openness, transparency and accountability at equal arms’ length with all political parties.

For this reason, the Election Commission’s review of the election laws should not be a secretive one where the will and wishes of the ruling parties could be communicated through some  government representatives but an open and above-board process involving all political parties and interested NGOs.

For this reason, the Election Commission should set up an all-party review committee  with representation from interested NGOs to review the  election laws and  regulations to ensure a clean, free,  fair and efficient  election system for Malaysia in the new era, with a mandate to complete in three to six months  the most comprehensive review of the election laws and regulations in the nation’s history and making public its recommendations.

Among the matters which should be the subject of the review of the election laws and regulations to ensure a clean, free, fair and efficient election system are:
 

• Clean-up of  the electoral roll by removing phantom voters, which is a prevalent form of electoral abuse in general elections as well as in the recent Lunas by-election.
• Eliminate  postal  ballot abuses, both with regard to registration as well as the system of voting.
• Effective safeguards, backed by the sanctions of the law, to ensure a clean, free and fair election campaign to curb the three Ms of money politics, unfair mass media coverage and abuses of government machinery and resources.
• Restoration of an independent, efficient and professional Election Commission with real powers to fix election campaign periods which are exercised with accountability and transparency instead of having to act on the directive  of the Prime Minister’s Department.
• How all aspects of the election system could be simplified and modernised with the introduction of information technology (IT).

(29/1/2001)