FACE-TO-FACE campaigning and political gatherings will be allowed in the coming Sarawak elections but only in “villages and longhouses”.

This is similarly the case with house-to-house visits in villages and bilik-to-bilik (room to room) in longhouses, a draft standard operating procedure (SOP) by the Election Commission (EC) sighted by The Malaysian Insight showed.

Elsewhere, such in-person activities to canvass for votes are totally banned, just like the SOP imposed in the recently concluded Malacca elections as measures to curb the spread of Covid-19.

The document, however, did not specify if urban villages and longhouses are exempted from the ban in the 12 days of campaigning between December 6 (nomination day) and 17 (the eve of polling).

In the town of Betong for example, there are several longhouses within a 2km radius of the town centre and in Kuching, there are dozens of Malay villages within the city limit.

There are still conditions to go with the relaxation for elections SOP, which was last updated on November 4.

The EC only allows residents of the villages or longhouses to conduct campaigns there.

With the exception of candidates, leaders of political parties, campaign watchdogs and government officials, “outsiders” and non-residents will not be allowed to campaign in these villages and longhouses.

The number of campaign workers permitted is limited to eight.

The easing of restrictions on face-to-face campaigning and ceramah are among key demands made by most political parties as many rural villages, longhouses and settlements do not have internet service.

Therefore, political parties and their candidates are not able to take up on the EC’s encouragement to utilise social media platforms.

Yesterday, 17 civil society organisations said while they understand and accept that certain restrictions and limits need to be in place for physical campaigning, they do not accept measures that deny political parties and candidates the opportunity to meet voters.

They said if there are similar constraints in Sarawak, then there must be alternatives, like free broadcasting time for party political broadcasts on state-owned television and radio stations.

The civil societies said political parties must be allowed to communicate their manifestos, introduce their candidates and their policy arguments to the voters on a level playing field, starting from nomination day. – November 25, 2021.