Calls grow for public holiday on May 9

MTUC says mid-week polling could lead to voters taking out their anger on authorities for the inconvenience caused.

Cuepacs president Azih Muda says a public holiday will enable both workers and employers to come out and vote.

GEORGE TOWN: Two major bodies representing workers have urged the government to declare May 9 a national holiday in light of the Election Commission’s announcement today that polling for the 14th general election will take place on that date.

Congress of Union of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) president Azih Muda said equal opportunities should be given to workers from both the civil service and the private sector to go out and vote on May 9.

“An ad hoc holiday for the civil service alone would not be sufficient as employees in the private sector will also have to come out and vote.

“I hope the government can consider this suggestion. This will enable all workers and employers who are registered voters to fulfil their duties,” he told FMT when contacted.

Malaysian Trades Union Congress secretary-general J Solomon questioned the EC for not fixing the polls on a weekend, when they were able to fix the nomination day and early voting on a Saturday.

“With the various kinds of hardship faced by workers today, this move will definitely make voters even more angry at those in authority.

“Selecting the middle of the week as a voting day will certainly involve travelling by a large number of voters, who have to return to their voting centres.

“In addition, they may also need to bring along with them their elderly immediate family members. This will definitely cause a traffic bottleneck in the middle of the week,” he said.

300,000 Sabahans could miss elections

Meanwhile, in Kota Kinabalu, Parti Warisan Sabah president Shafie Apdal said declaring May 9 a public holiday would ensure a bigger voter turnout and enable those from out of town to return home to cast their votes.

He said the EC was contradicting its own call for Malaysians to come out and vote by making it inconvenient for them to do so.

“What is wrong with holding the election on a Saturday, as has been the practice all this time? Whose convenience is the EC looking after, the people or Barisan Nasional?” he asked in a statement.

According to Shafie, up to 300,000 Sabahans, many of them registered voters, but working in the Klang Valley, would be forced to give the election a miss and this would be unfair.

“In the last election, because polling was on a Saturday, some 100,000 voters were able to return home to Sabah to cast their votes.

“Today, the EC has let down voters in Malaysia because they have opted to choose a day in the middle of the week for ballots to be cast.”

He also questioned the need for early voting (for military and police personnel as well as voters living outside their polling districts) to be held on May 5, six days before the actual polling day, saying that the security of such votes could be compromised.

Shafie questioned if the early ballots cast would be kept in a safe and secure place to prevent those with vested interests from tampering with them.

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