EC is a ‘staff’ in PM’s Dept

The Election Commission (EC), it appears, is bogged down by the lack of money, manpower and 'real' clout.

PETALING JAYA: In a democracy, it is widely understood that when a “commission” is set up, it comes directly under the purview of Parliament.

But in Malaysia’s case, the story is different. Take the Election Commission (EC). Why does the EC need the government to approve recommendations proposed by the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on electoral reforms before implementing them?

Because the EC is technically a staff “employed” by the Prime Minister’s Department.

Explaining the “relationship”, EC secretary Kamaruddin Ahmad Baria said: ” The EC does not fall under the purview of Parliament.

“It falls administratively under the Prime Minister’s Department… but it is independent in terms of decision-making.”

Recently, EC deputy chairman Wan Ahmad Wan Omar reportedly said the federal government must approved the PSC’s recommendations before they can be implemented.

He said that “even a small change in regulation” would need to be approved by the government, although he agreed with observers that some recommendations such as the use of indelible ink did not require amendments to the law.

Wan Ahmad’s comments followed PSC chairman, Maximus Ongkili’s statement that the PSC committee would table its full report which could include more proposals for electoral reforms in March or early April next year.

Strapped for money, and lacking in manpower and clout, the EC, it appears, is now scrambling to deal with its “newfound” challenges.

Speaking to FMT, Kamaruddin said that one of the EC’s shortcomings in implementing the PSC recommendations was an acute lack of personnel.

More work, no manpower

One of the 10 PSC recommendations was to strengthen the EC as an institution through additional funding and increase in manpower.

“Although the PSC has made the recommendation to strengthen the EC, it cannot be easily done. The PSC has given us extra (more) things to do, but we have very limited resources,” Kamaruddin said.

“This PSC report is only the preliminary report; there are more recommendations to come.”

“So far the EC has spoken to the Public Service Department (PSD) to increase our staff; hopefully the PSD will give us more (personnel),” he added.

According to Kamaruddin, the EC has only 450 officers and staff in the country since 2004.

“Each state has only two officers, a state director and a deputy state director, and about 30-odd supporting staff.

“In Perak, we have two officers and 31 supporting staff only. It’s about the same number in Selangor.

“The supporting staff carry out a variety of duties like taking care of accounts and registering voters,” he said.

In contrast, the number of voters registered has increased tremendously.

In 2004, the EC registered 9,756,097 voters. In 2008, there were about 10,740,227 registered voters. According to the supplementary electoral roll for the fourth quarter of 2010, the number had increased to 11,817,936 .

“The number of voters have increased through the years due to more awareness and exposure, but the number of staff remain the same.

“There is an addition of one or two personnel but that’s negligible,” he said.