Malaysians in and out of the country get right to cast ballot

EVERY Malaysian citizen, including those residing overseas, will be automatically registered as voters, says Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law) Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin.

She said the Election Commission (EC) was committed to implement the automatic voter registration together with Undi18 by Dec 31 this year, in accordance with the Kuching High Court’s landmark decision on Sept 3.

“Every citizen of Malaysia will be registered as voters. Even those residing overseas who are unregistered will be automatically registered as voters,” she told Maria Chin Abdullah (PH-Petaling Jaya).

Maria had asked whether the automatic registration mechanism would be extended to Malaysians living overseas and also to Sabahans and Sarawakians residing in Peninsular Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Mas Ermieyati said postal voting would only be available for certain categories of voters such as EC officers, members of the military, the police and media who were working on the day of a general election, as well as civil servants.

Postal voting will also be allowed for Malaysians who could not be present to cast their ballots, which include students studying overseas and civil servants who are posted out of the country.

However, postal voting are not allowed for Malaysians living in Brunei, Singapore, Kalimantan in Indonesia and southern Thailand.

“For Sabah and Sarawak voters residing in Peninsular Malaysia, the EC advises them to change their address based on their place of residence,” she added.

She said this was to facilitate voting for a general election or by-election.

“Article 119 of the Federal Constitution stipulates that one of the qualifications to be registered as a voter is to be a resident in any constituency.

“For that purpose, the EC determines a voter’s constituency based on the voter’s address stated in the identity card,” she added.

On Sept 3, the Kuching High Court ordered the Federal Government to implement Undi18 by Dec 31 at the latest, together with the automatic voter registration.

In July 2019, Parliament passed a constitutional amendment to lower the minimum voting age to 18 and to allow automatic voter registration.