JOHOR BARU: Wanting her vote to count in the Johor polls, Low Jing Tong spent hours waiting at New Zealand’s Queenstown Airport for someone to fly her postal ballot back.
After several unsuccessful attempts, the 31-year-old turned to social media and eventually found a fellow Malaysian based in Auckland who agreed to help.
The traveller was to send the ballot to Low’s hometown in Kluang after arriving in Malaysia.
Low, who is on a working holiday in New Zealand until September, applied to be a postal voter for the first time, as she did not want to miss out on voting.
“I checked online, and there was no direct flight from Queenstown to Kuala Lumpur or Singapore, just transit flights.
“So I tried my luck at the airport. There were not many Asian faces around, and I had to listen to the way people spoke and even look at passports, hoping to find a Malaysian,” she said in a telephone interview.
Low said she approached several travellers but had no success, as people were wary of strangers.
“I met a Malaysian family and told them about the election in Johor but was left disappointed,” she said.
Refusing to give up, Low took to social media to look for anyone travelling back to Malaysia.
Her post caught the attention of a Malaysian working in Auckland who was scheduled to fly to Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
“I hesitated at first because I did not know his background. But why would someone lie just because of my ballot paper? Hopefully my ballot will get back in time,” said the voter in the Mahkota constituency.
Low said her experience highlighted some of the challenges faced by overseas postal voters.
Besides worrying whether her ballot would reach her in time, she was surprised to learn that another Malaysian needed to witness part of the voting process by signing the required forms.
“I could have avoided all the hassle by paying for an international courier service, but express delivery will set me back more than NZ$170 (RM400), which is a day’s wages for me,” she added.
She urged Johoreans to do everything possible to make their votes count.
“If you have the opportunity to go back and vote, please do. Every vote counts,” she said.
