KUCHING: Sarawak should consider reverting to a staggered state election like in the old days instead of insisting on holding it in one day.
Former editor-in-chief and chairman of Malaysia National News Agency (Bernama), Datuk Seri Azman Ujang, made this suggestion considering that the overdue 12th state election had been postponed a number of times.
In his opinion a staggered election is perhaps the best solution because holding an election amidst the pandemic is too dangerous and there is no telling when the pandemic will end.
The term of the current Sarawak Legislative Assembly (DUN) was supposed to expire on June 6 this year and in accordance with the State Constitution, the 12th state polls must be held within 60 days after its expiry.
However, the election was postponed since a state of emergency declared nationwide on Jan 11 was still in place. The emergency only ended on August 1.
Sarawak then was prepared to hold its election within 60 days from Aug 2.
However, the election was again put on hold after the Yang di-Pertuan Agong declared another Emergency for Sarawak from Aug 2, 2021 to Feb 2, 2022. The decision was made in view of the continued high number of positive Covid-19 cases reported daily and the election would only worsen the situation as experienced in Sabah state election before.
In a virtual workshop on ‘Effective News Writing: An Expert Guide’, held via Zoom for journalists from New Sarawak Tribune and Suara Sarawak today, Azman believed the Election Commission (EC) would also be agreeable to the idea of staggered polling should the pandemic persist.
“With a staggered election, the EC would have less number of people gathering at polling centres at any one day hence reducing the risk of infection,” he said.
Currently, unlike in the late 60’s where at least two weeks were required to conduct polling in Sarawak due to its rugged terrain and poor road infrastructure and logistics, the state polls only needed one day for all its 82 state seats.
The first state election in 1970 (originally scheduled for May 1969 but suspended due to Emergency) was staggered for nearly a month (June 6-July 4). Subsequent elections were spread over a few days: 1974 (Aug 24-Sept 14), 1979 (Sept 15-22), 1983 (Dec 28-29), 1987 (April 15-16), 1991 (Sept 27-28) and 1996 (Sept 7-8).
“Perhaps, since the state and country is currently still coming to grips with the Covid-19 pandemic, the Sarawak state government may want to go back to the previous staggered election … may be for a period of two weeks,” he added.
Azman was not the first to propose the state to revert to holding staggered polls during this time of the pandemic.
Recently, Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) Sarawak had also made a similar proposal but for only two days.
It also suggested for affirmative steps to be taken to replace onsite physical campaigning with broadcast campaigning, hold advance voting for registered voters with polling addresses in Sarawak but are residing outside the state and 21 days period for postal voters to cast their votes.
Bersih Sarawak representative Ann Teo said all these radical measures were aimed at the safety of everyone amidst the current Covid-19 pandemic.
