ROSS Stephenson, 24, was keen to exercise his democratic rights and in August 2016, registered as a new voter. But he was stunned when he received a notice in February from the Election Commission (EC), informing him of his status as a “dubious voter”.
Stephenson was later directed to appear at a public inquiry at the EC branch in Shah Alam.
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They were successfully thwarted in Thailand, Myanmar and Indonesia and nipped harshly in the bud in Singapore. In Malaysia owing to a very tolerant (some say too tolerant) government, Bersih and its allegations supported by the Malaysian Bar were allowed to propagate their rather winded story of a "Guarantee" to the right to vote under the Federal Constitution of Malaysia.
The truth is there is no guarantee anywhere in the constitution for a qualified citizen to vote at any general elections. The qualifications for voting at an election is spelled out in the constitution. No guarantees to the so called "right" claimed appears anywhere in Article 119 of the constitution nor can it be implied to be so.
The right to vote is also a duty to vote. Where the right does arise, the duty and obligation as a moral one (as opposed to it being a legal one as is the case in Australia) arises.
The Malaysian Bar (as one would expect) went on a tirade against government and a propaganda campaign getting very hot under the collar in 2013 prior to the general elections there preaching the existence of this so called guarantee.
There may be an implied guarantee to this effect by a very wide stretch of the imagination if exercised but certainly not by constitutional force.
Tommy Thomas once also preached the same nonsense.
Posted 6 years ago by Gopal Raj Kumar