Dr Kelvin Yii.
KUCHING (Dec 3): The Election Commission (EC) has failed Sarawakians and Malaysians as a whole for not introducing drastic measures to provide a safer voting environment during this Covid-19 pandemic, particularly for Sarawakians living outside the state, said Dr Kelvin Yii.
The Bandar Kuching MP said this is why he suggested that the government either allow Sarawakians living outside of Sarawak to be gazetted as postal voters or set up special voting stations in the main cities in Peninsular Malaysia.
“Absentee or postal voting would make it easier for voters residing in other states to vote instead of them having to return home and causing a possible spike in the number of Covid-19 cases, especially in view of the new Omicron variant,” he said in a statement yesterday.
The Democratic Action Party lawmaker said the EC has an office in every state, and these offices outside Sarawak could be used as polling stations to allow Sarawakians to cast their ballots.
In the interest of parliamentary democracy and in keeping with the principle of free and fair elections, Dr Yii said the EC must extend postal voting to all Sarawakians working or domiciled outside Sarawak so that no voter is deprived of the right to vote on economic grounds.
“This is especially true with high prices of flight tickets to Sarawak for the past weeks mainly due to flight restrictions into Sarawak by the state government and Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC).
“SDMC cannot be seen as a political tool to create obstacles for people to come back to vote,” he said.
As such, he said postal voting should be extended to those working or studying outside the state especially in Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia.
According to him, some air fares could cost almost a whole month of salary for the common Malaysian.
“The right to vote should not be reserved as a right for the rich only or those that can afford to fly back to vote.”
He said it is disappointing that the EC continued to be reluctant to take the necessary actions to make such reforms, citing that postal voting or even absentee voting in selected areas will be costly and logistically tougher to do.
“They even mentioned that people should change their voting area to the place they are currently staying for their convenience.
“I strongly disagree as people should be given the choice to choose where they want to vote especially their own home state,” he pointed out.
Dr Yii felt that there was little political will for the EC to reform even if it meant well for the people.
He said the government of the day must be kept accountable and take responsibility for this.
“Because of their failure to adapt and reform, we have seen a deliberate act of ‘voter suppression’ which is against the spirit of democracy,” he added.
from Borneo Post Online https://bit.ly/3lq2AzZ
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