THE race to get postal votes back home before November 19 has gone into overdrive in the United Kingdom and Ireland with 4,168 ballot papers already collected, Syed Rifqi Najmuddin said.

The VoteMalaysia United Kingdom and Eire project director said it had collected the votes from Malaysian students and professionals from the UK and Ireland based in 51 cities and 13 regions.

“Malaysians here are eager to fulfil their democratic duty. The response so far has been very good,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

The law student from Bristol said they have set up 58 collection points in the UK and Ireland.

In order to ensure the ballots reach home on time, Syed Rifqi said they have collected about RM20,000 for the programme.

“The funds will be used to send the ballots back on November 17. The collection points will close on at 5am on Thursday in Malaysia,” he said.

“After that, they (voters) will have to send it by themselves, which may not arrive on time.”

He also said some Malaysians have yet to receive their ballot papers.

“The Election Commission (EC) sent out the ballots on November 7, but some have yet to receive them,” he said.

“We have requested the EC to have a longer voting period, but it has fallen on deaf ears.”

Syed Rifqi said the Malaysian diaspora in the UK is 84,000 and the Malaysian student population is about 15,000.

VoteMalaysia is an initiative by a group of youth organisations worldwide with the aim of ensuring the postal votes from abroad for the general election reach Malaysia.

According to VoteMalaysia, it has also set up collection points in Scotland, at Edinburgh, Glasgow, St Andrews and Dundee.

The ballot papers will be sent to the Malaysia Hall in London on November 16. Two volunteers will then fly out on November 17 to arrive in Malaysia on November 18.

Global Bersih has also tweeted: “#OverseasMalaysians If you’re flying postal ballots home, meet us at KLIA 1 this Friday, 3-11 pm. If you arrive earlier, please look for @UNDI18MY.” 

First-time voter Megan Lim, 18, said it is a bit surreal for her doing this overseas and being able to exercise her right to vote all the way from the UK.

“It is also quite exciting having seen my parents come home from casting their votes in previous general elections.”

The law student from University of Bristol, who will be voting for the Damansara constituency, said her ballot paper was delayed and it only arrived on November 15.

“I barely made it to submit my vote on the scheduled voting collection day. It was actually supposed to arrive on November 16 and by that point, the votes would have arrived in London already,” she said.

“I also know other people in the South West community who have still not received their ballot papers and may not be able to vote this time around.”

She also praised VoteMalaysia for organising the programme and postal voting workshops, which took place leading up to the vote collection days.

“I think it is a great initiative. The VoteMalaysia programme makes it easier for Malaysians living in the UK to vote because of the centralised voting locations,” she said.

Lim also said she has been reading online news to learn more about the party manifestos.

“I have also been reading through GE15 updates every morning, summarised in daily emails by the Coffee Break,” she said.

Another first-time voter, Faris Putra Zulkarnain, 22, who is voting in the Shah Alam constituency, feels proud for exercising his voting right and fulfilling his responsibility for Malaysia.

“I did not have any issue on receiving my ballot. In fact, among my friends, I received my ballot the earliest,” he said.

“The emotion was surreal as I finally get to vote for Shah Alam.”

He said VoteMalaysia is informative and, importantly, everything is free, so he did not need to pay £30 (RM162) to send his vote back.

The accounting and finance student from Bristol University said he heavily relies on Twitter and Facebook to get information on the general election.

“However, as a first-time voter, I need to be wary of which news I’m following since I’m voting in Shah Alam,” he said.

Faris said he is looking forward to a better Malaysia and this election is the pinnacle moment for all Malaysians to vote for the right people to lead the country.

Accountant V. Prathip Devan said he has forwarded his ballot to the VoteMalaysia representative in Edinburgh after having received it on Tuesday.

The first-time voter said he is voting in the Bangi constituency and had been following reports on the campaign on various news sites.

He said the VoteMalaysia initiative has made voting much more accessible and less stressful to overseas voters who were unable to go home for the polls. – November 16, 2022.