If there is no cheating in Malaysian elections, why is Malaysia occupying a lowly ranking of No. 142 out of 158 countries in Electoral Integrity Index, lower than Indonesia, Singapore and Philippines?

I fully endorse the challenge by former Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to invite independent international observers from the Commonweath, the European Union and the United Nations to monitor the 14th General Election if Najib is sincere and genuine in declaring that there will be no cheating in the 14GE.

There are enough reasons for Malaysians and independent observers to expect the 14th GE to be the dirtiest in Malaysia’s history.

If there is no cheating in Malaysian elections, why is Malaysia occupying a lowly ranking of No. 142 out of 158 countries in Electoral Integrity Index, lower than Indonesia ranked No.68, Singapore ranked 94 and Philippines ranked 101?

Cheating is in fact institutionalized into the electoral system overseen by the Election Commission whether in the electoral redelineation exercise or the voters’ registration campaign with voters in BN strongholds moved to seats BN won win a slim margin and polling districts in marginal seats the opposition won removed to increase the chances of BN winning these marginal seats.

One of the greatest failures of the Election Commission is to shirk its primary constitutional responsibility to ensure that short of introducing the system of automatic registration of voters, every eligible and qualified voter will be able to register on the electoral roll with the minimum of fuss and with without any bureaucratic obstacle to be able to exercise the constitutional right to vote in the every general election.

It is an indictment on the Election Commission that some three million eligible voters are not yet on the electoral roll to enable them to exercise their constitutional right to cast their vote in the 14GE.

What is the Election Commission doing to remedy this grave constitutional defect and to prepare a comprehensive and inclusive electoral roll for the 14GE?

It is sad that Malaysia has an Election Commission whose chairman and commissioners are not aware of their constitutional responsibilities.

Two decades ago, I had told Parliament that in New Zealand, its Election Commission could register voters on the eve of polling day to enable them to cast their vote the next day.

Why is the Election Commission in Malaysia so outmoded and antediluvian as to be unable to provide a more efficient and up-to-date voter registration mechanism?

If in New Zealand as far back as twenty years ago, an eligible voter can register on the eve of polling day as to vote the next day, is it totally beyond the IT competence, capability and professionalism of the Election Commission to ensure that eligible voters could still register as a voter two weeks before Polling Day of the 14th General Election, whether in April or May this year?

I call on the Election Commission to have an emergency meeting to introduce the system where an eligible voter can register to vote in the 14GE two weeks before Polling Day.