Filepic of EC workers arranging ballot boxes in Sarawak. Civil society groups have renewed pressure on the EC to allow early or postal voting for Sabahans living in other states.
FOR thousands of people from Sabah living and working in peninsular Malaysia, the ballot box feels far out of reach – separated not just by distance but by bureaucracy.
As the Sabah state election nears, frustration is mounting among voters who fear they will once again be denied their democratic right simply because they live too far from home.
For years, calls for the Election Commission (EC) to extend postal or early voting to Sabah and Sarawak voters residing outside their home states have gone unanswered.
Now, with polling day set for Nov 29, those calls are growing louder.
Johor has a sizeable number of Sabah folk, in various employment sectors such as oil-and-gas and manufacturing.
Oldery, based in Pontian, says the trip home is too costly.
Oldery Jungin, 28, a pastor based in Pontian since 2014, said getting back to his hometown would cost a lot of money.
“It is an expensive affair as I will need to take at least four vehicles to reach my hometown,” he said, spelling out the trek from Pontian to Johor Baru for a flight to Kota Kinabalu, then a three-hour land transport to Kota Marudu and another 30 minutes by car to his village.
Oldery said those from Sabah and Sarawak among his church congregation, shared the same frustrations and they often ended up sitting out elections.
For 21-year-old Mardiati Thomas from Tenom, the lowering of the voting age, from 21 to 18, has served no purpose.
“While I was among those who were supposed to benefit from the implementation of Undi18, I have yet to experience voting up to this day simply because I am studying in the peninsula.”
Mardiati, originally from Tenom, moved to Johor to live with her sister before taking up a place at Institute of Teacher Education Tuanku Bainun Campus in Penang.
She said travelling home to vote would require a flight to Kota Kinabalu followed by a long road journey, an expense she and many others simply could not afford.
“There are about nine students from Sabah in my batch and all of them have decided to skip voting because they cannot afford to travel back to their hometowns,” she said.
“This figure is from just one university. Imagine the number of voters in the same situation elsewhere,” she added.
Mardiati cannot afford the air ticket nor the journey time.
Mardiati, who is currently doing her practicum in Kedah, added that even if she could afford the ticket, taking time off and travelling for hours made the process unfeasible.
A housewife who wanted to be known only as Vivian said she eventually changed her MyKad address to her Johor home so she could at least vote somewhere.
“Given the chance, I will still vote in Sabah as it is where I am from. But it is just too difficult.
“Instead of not voting at all, I decided to vote here.
“Still, it feels unfair,” she said.
“We have been asking for postal voting – just the bare minimum – and it is like no one is listening.”
Civil society groups have also renewed pressure on the EC.
On Oct 12, a coalition of civil society organisations comprising Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih), Engage, Rose, Tindak and Projek Sama urged the government and the EC not to further delay postal or early voting for Sabah folk living outside the state, calling the move “long overdue”.
They said both the Federal and state governments had failed to act, despite repeated appeals since the 2011 Sarawak election.
EC chairman Datuk Seri Ramlan Harun announced that about 1.7 million voters were expected to head to the polls on Nov 29, with nomination day set for Nov 15 and early voting on Nov 25.
On the proposal to allow postal voting for those from Sabah living in the peninsula, he said the matter “has yet to be finalised”.
“For now, Sabah voters who are not in the state will have to go back to cast their vote,” said Ramlan.
