MALAYSIANS in Australia prefer to come home to vote in the 14th general election because they lack faith in the integrity of the postal-voting process, said a campaigner.

Australian National University (ANU) graduate Sum Dek Joe said although the Malaysian postal-voting system appears similar to that of First-World countries, Malaysians were generally sceptical because they have little confidence in the public institutions of their homeland. 

“As a registered voter, I’m not confident in the process. This explains why I, despite being the organiser of the oversea-voting campaign in Canberra, did not file a postal-voting application,” the Malaysian Progressives in Australia (MPOZ) Canberra representative said in an email interview with The Malaysian Insight.

MPOZ branches in Melbourne and Canberra last year ran an overseas-voting campaign to get more Malaysians to vote. The young Malaysians in Australia managed to get more than 40 applications approved.

There are currently more than 2,000 Malaysians living in Australia who are of voting age, according to electoral watchdog Bersih 2.0.

Sum said it was important to recognise that many Malaysians abroad did not have the time nor means to go home to register to vote or to vote, or even more dauntingly, to do both.

“Therefore, it is important for us to grab whatever option there is available, postal voting or absentee voting,” said Sum, who is a head tutor at the ANU.

Postal or advanced?

Overseas Malaysians may vote by post. According to Global Bersih’s GE14: the guide to voting, the Election Commission has established two ways for Malaysians abroad to vote by post.

One is postal voting, where ballots are sent to the embassy or high commission which will post the ballot papers to the voter’s address on a fixed date, and the other is advance voting, where overseas voters cast their votes at the embassy or high commission on a fixed date, usually several days before polling day. 

Leon Law, who studies in Perth but is back in Malaysia on a break, said he planned to return home to participate in the next general election, which is due in August. 

“I am currently back home to assist with election preparations. 

“Looking at the state of the country and the lack of leadership or direction displayed by our current prime minister even before the 1MDB case exploded, I made a promise to myself that I would save up some money to travel back home if I happened to be abroad (at the time of the general election),” Law said. 

MPOZ president Jason Wong said he knew many students who were hoping for elections to be called early in the semester, in February or March.

“They’re worried about costs and skipping class. Conversely, if they happen to be at home when the election is called, they cannot vote if they have registered to vote from Australia. The date is unpredictable.”

Wong said it was also risky to switch from regular to advance voter because it took a long time for the system to update the electoral roll. 

“I will have to fly back when the election happens. I have recently graduated and my family are doing okay financially, so the cost of flying back is a nuisance at worst,” said Wong, who is based in Melbourne.

He is now in Malaysia to make arrangements for further studies in Australia. 

Safest to vote at home

Bersih Sydney secretary Jason Goh said lack of transparency, oversight and accountability are chief reasons overseas voters have no faith in the overseas-voting process.

“Bersih Sydney, through its various events, continues to encourage Malaysians to register as voters and to go home to vote when the time came.

“For the reasons mentioned above, we think that flying home to vote (again, unfortunately) remains the safest option. 

“This, of course, is easier said than done, given the uncertainty of the election date and the typically short period between dissolution of Parliament and polling,” he said. 

Where to register

MPOZ’s Wong said voter registration is possible in Melbourne, Perth and Canberra, where there were Malaysian consulates. 

“Students in other cities (including Sydney) must travel to a consulate in person to register, risking a wasted trip,” he said, referring to various problems people have encountered when they try to register as voters. 

“If the authorised officer, who also happens to be the consul-general, is not in on a given day, no forms can be approved. 

“People have also notified us that some consul staff are unaware that postal-vote registration is possible. Whether this (ignorance) is deliberate, we do not know.”

He said theoretically, any Malaysian student in Australia has the right to go to a consulate to be registered as a first-time postal voter, a process that should not take more than 10 minutes.

“Some have told us that when they turn up unannounced, they are told that ‘the forms aren’t ready’.

“We thought these were teething problems when EC first cleared the consulates to register voters early last year, but we have not had confirmation of either failed or successful registrations in the second semester.” – January 19, 2018.