Allow postal voting for Sarawakians in peninsula, MP tells EC

 Dr Kelvin Yii says the Election Commission should use the electoral redelineation exercise in Sarawak to expedite reforms.

Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii said some voters spend a month’s salary to return to Sarawak to vote. (File pic)

PETALING JAYA:

 A Sarawak MP has reiterated his call for the Election Commission to allow Sarawakians in Peninsular Malaysia to vote by post, to maximise voter participation and “future-proofing” elections against pandemics and other disruptions.

DAP’s Bandar Kuching MP, Dr Kelvin Yii, said there are more than 200,000 registered Sarawakian voters in the peninsula who face significant logistical and financial problems to return home to cast their ballots.

Yii said some spend days travelling and incurring costs that can exceed a month’s salary.

He said postal voting from the peninsula would eliminate such obstacles.

“To choose to ignore this reform is to knowingly suppress turnout among a significant segment of the electorate,” he said in a statement.

He said countries that implemented posting voting during the Covid-19 pandemic demonstrated that it could be done securely with verifiable identity checks and tracking mechanisms.

There is no reason why Malaysia could not adopt the same safeguards, he said.

Yii said the EC must take the opportunity during the electoral redelineation exercise in Sarawak to expedite reforms, including postal voting.

“To delay reform is to leave our electoral process dangerously exposed to the next emergency,” he said. - FMT