THE Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) wants Putrajaya to declare November 19 polling day a public holiday to allow voters to cast their ballots.

MTUC secretary-general Kamarul Baharin Mansor said the country’s 16 million workers will determine which party will form the federal government.

“Most private sector companies operate on Saturday and many only allow time off to vote. It is inconvenient for those working in the urban areas to to theie hometowns to vote because of time (constraints).

“Declaring a public holiday on the eve of the general election will not help those in the private sector as Saturday is a working day for most of them,” he said in a statement today.

The three Pakatan Harapan governments of Selangor, Penang and Negri Sembilan already declared polling eve a public holiday in the three states.

The three states will not be holding their state elections at the same time as the federal polls, saying they were prioritising preparations for the monsoon.

Yesterday, caretaker prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the government will consider declaring a public holiday on November 18.

He noted employers had given time off to workers to vote in the past but the short period had put workers under pressure to vote and get back to work fast.

Kamarul noted that most companies have not said that workers will be given time off to vote.

He said the MTUC had received complaints in the past that some workers had had their wages docked for taking too long to get back to work after voting.

He called on the Human Resources Ministry to take action against such companies. – November 10, 2022.