SABAH and Sarawak voters will not be allowed to cast their votes in the peninsula, said the Election Commission (EC) today.

EC chairman Mohd Hashim Abdullah said if the EC made an exception for Sabah and Sarawak voters, it would have to extend the right to everyone else.

“If we let them (Sabah and Sarawak) enjoy this privilege, we have to allow everyone to do it, too.

“What about Kelantanese voters like me? What about Kedah and Terengganu, too?” said Hashim after launching the MySPR app in conjunction with the EC’s 60th anniversary in Putrajaya today.

Hashim was responding to Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah’s demand to the EC to amend the laws to allow Sabah and Sarawak voters to vote in the peninsula.

Maria said the EC could hold early polling for them like how it does for the police, military and emergency workers.

According to Bersih 2.0, there are 150,000 voters from Sabah and Sarawak living in the peninsula now.

Hashim said Bersih’s proposal is a non-issue as Sabah and Sarawak voters who insist on voting in their constituencies despite being able to register in the peninsula.

“We encourage them to register where they live but most of them prefer to vote in their hometowns.”

Hashim also said it’s not the right time to implement e-voting as voters may not be ready for it.

“Why do we want to do e-voting when our elections are so sensitive. Before we do it, we need to study the countries which have implemented it fully to see whether it’s been successful there,” he added.

There’s the risk of a system failure that could jeopardise voting on polling day, said Hashim.

“Are we ready if a system failure happens because our country is very sensitive about elections where even light failures have become a big issue.”

The EC chief said to implement e-voting, the government would need to amend the laws.

But, he said, it’s near impossible to amend the laws when the government does not have a two-thirds majority in the Dewan Rakyat. – September 27, 2017.