Exactly one year ago on a Sunday, Malaysians were outrunning tear gas, water cannons and the police in the streets of Kuala Lumpur. Despite that, this year’s April 28 is arguably more historic.
It was the first time that Malaysians were allowed to vote by post. It was also the first time the Election Commission (EC) would be handling this sort of overseas voting, and it clearly showed. An insufficient number of EC agents and an inefficient process resulted in a long queue for waiting voters, with voting wrapping up several hours past 8pm.
The bottleneck in the system seemed to be a shortage of EC staff working the operation. Voters needed to get their Borang 2s signed by witnesses, and there were only three officials acting as such. This meant there was a queue inside the Malaysian High Commission as voters waited to have their forms signed, before proceeding to mark their ballots.
To put things into better perspective, it may be better to describe how slowly voters were processed.
Close to 900 voters turned up on Sunday, with voting opening at 9am. By 1pm, however, only 200 or so had been processed. Likewise, by 4.30pm, less than 500 voters had been called in to vote.
This meant that up until then, voters were being processed at a rate of about 60 to 70 people per hour. To cover the remaining 300 or more voters waiting in line by 8pm, they would have to handle at least 100 voters an hour.
Soon after this, it was announced that a separate queue would be opened for people willing to take their ballots and post it back to Malaysia on their own; this was done to expedite the process, as it meant that voters would only need to pick up their envelopes - no need for witness signing by EC officials.
This helped somewhat, but many people still elected to stay on and wait out their turn rather than post their ballots home independently. The last batch of voters were called into the embassy by 10pm, many of them having taken their number much earlier in the evening.
If it took over 11 hours to deal with 900 voters, one wonders how the EC would have dealt with the situation if all 1,200 or so registered postal voters had turned up. Between this and the experiences of Malaysian voters in other countries, how would the EC have managed 700,000 overseas voters?
Still a great day for Malaysians
To give credit where it is due, the EC officials at the high commission were all extremely professional and polite in doing their jobs. They had also prepared a well-heated waiting room in the basement for voters, which served the voters who stayed on beyond dinner especially well.
There did not seem to be any sign of systematic fraud in the operation. There were only a couple of isolated incidents - one man had a ballot with a full stop printed at a candidate’s name, while another apparently received a ballot from the wrong state constituency.
It is an unfortunate limitation of the postal voting process that there are no spare ballots, but it hardly constituted a pattern of frustrating voters.
The whole process was actually a pleasantly peaceful experience, especially in contrast to reports of violence and aggression back home. There were no competing mobs - only two quiet party vans (one for BN, another for PKR) and a group of Bersih volunteers who were conducting a ‘get-out-the-vote’ campaign. The local police were only a silent but reassuring presence.
Many voters were students, coming from as near as near as Cambridge and Reading, or as far as Wales. Plenty came in small groups of friends, although some came in larger contingents - there was even a small bus of voters from Nottingham.
Everyone seemed fairly glad to have done their part. Polling agents went about flashing their sample voting envelopes, explaining the process to the more confused voters. The Bersih folks handed out signs and flags, putting voters in front of a camera for a video they were making.
And of course, the voters dutifully took their queue numbers and waited out the day just to exercise the right they were clamouring for a year ago.
It created a fairly homely atmosphere, although we were missing our beautiful Malaysian weather and the presence of enterprising hawkers selling food and drink on the streets. Teething problems aside, one can only hope that voting will be just as peaceful on May 5.
It was the first time that Malaysians were allowed to vote by post. It was also the first time the Election Commission (EC) would be handling this sort of overseas voting, and it clearly showed. An insufficient number of EC agents and an inefficient process resulted in a long queue for waiting voters, with voting wrapping up several hours past 8pm.The bottleneck in the system seemed to be a shortage of EC staff working the operation. Voters needed to get their Borang 2s signed by witnesses, and there were only three officials acting as such. This meant there was a queue inside the Malaysian High Commission as voters waited to have their forms signed, before proceeding to mark their ballots.
To put things into better perspective, it may be better to describe how slowly voters were processed.
Close to 900 voters turned up on Sunday, with voting opening at 9am. By 1pm, however, only 200 or so had been processed. Likewise, by 4.30pm, less than 500 voters had been called in to vote.
This meant that up until then, voters were being processed at a rate of about 60 to 70 people per hour. To cover the remaining 300 or more voters waiting in line by 8pm, they would have to handle at least 100 voters an hour.Soon after this, it was announced that a separate queue would be opened for people willing to take their ballots and post it back to Malaysia on their own; this was done to expedite the process, as it meant that voters would only need to pick up their envelopes - no need for witness signing by EC officials.
This helped somewhat, but many people still elected to stay on and wait out their turn rather than post their ballots home independently. The last batch of voters were called into the embassy by 10pm, many of them having taken their number much earlier in the evening.
If it took over 11 hours to deal with 900 voters, one wonders how the EC would have dealt with the situation if all 1,200 or so registered postal voters had turned up. Between this and the experiences of Malaysian voters in other countries, how would the EC have managed 700,000 overseas voters?
Still a great day for Malaysians
To give credit where it is due, the EC officials at the high commission were all extremely professional and polite in doing their jobs. They had also prepared a well-heated waiting room in the basement for voters, which served the voters who stayed on beyond dinner especially well.
There did not seem to be any sign of systematic fraud in the operation. There were only a couple of isolated incidents - one man had a ballot with a full stop printed at a candidate’s name, while another apparently received a ballot from the wrong state constituency.
It is an unfortunate limitation of the postal voting process that there are no spare ballots, but it hardly constituted a pattern of frustrating voters.The whole process was actually a pleasantly peaceful experience, especially in contrast to reports of violence and aggression back home. There were no competing mobs - only two quiet party vans (one for BN, another for PKR) and a group of Bersih volunteers who were conducting a ‘get-out-the-vote’ campaign. The local police were only a silent but reassuring presence.
Many voters were students, coming from as near as near as Cambridge and Reading, or as far as Wales. Plenty came in small groups of friends, although some came in larger contingents - there was even a small bus of voters from Nottingham.
Everyone seemed fairly glad to have done their part. Polling agents went about flashing their sample voting envelopes, explaining the process to the more confused voters. The Bersih folks handed out signs and flags, putting voters in front of a camera for a video they were making.
And of course, the voters dutifully took their queue numbers and waited out the day just to exercise the right they were clamouring for a year ago.
It created a fairly homely atmosphere, although we were missing our beautiful Malaysian weather and the presence of enterprising hawkers selling food and drink on the streets. Teething problems aside, one can only hope that voting will be just as peaceful on May 5.
EMMETT LEE is a Malaysian currently studying in the United Kingdom.
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