KUCHING: Allowing Sabahan and Sarawakian voters to cast their ballots in the peninsula has been long time coming.
Political analyst Dr Lee Kuok Tiung, a senior lecturer at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) said this should be allowed to allow every to participate in the democratic process.
He made this point after Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar told parliament on Monday that the matter was being studied by the Election Commission.
“This covers voters from Sabah and Sarawak who are residing in the peninsula and those from the peninsula who are residing in the two states,” he was quoted as saying.
Dr Lee said presently many have been denied their rights to participate in the democratic process due to the fact that they are working elsewhere.
“So far only police and military personnel and their families have been given the privilege to cast postal votes.
“With #Undi18, students at public universities should be given the opportunity to cast their votes,” he said.
On the expected turnout for the 15th General Election (GE15), he felt it will be very low due to the automatic registration.
“We have to accept the fact that some don’t really bother about voting, thus, they never went to register as voters all the while and suddenly because of the automatic registration, they have become voters,” he stressed.
On EC’s current system where polling districts are given based on the last address on ICs, Lee pointed out that this wouldn’t change the mind of some people to come out to vote.
