PMO announces May 9 as public holiday

The Prime Minister's Office has announced that polling day for the 14th general election will be declared as a national public holiday.

The announcement comes in the wake of widespread criticism over the Election Commission's (EC) decision to fix the polling date on a work day, May 9 (Wednesday).

"Following EC's announcement that the polling day for the 14th general election falls on May 9, the government has set that day as an additional public holiday for the entire country.

"This is to allow Malaysians to fulfill their responsibilities as voters," the PMO said in a statement today.

The PMO said the public holiday declaration was made in accordance with Section 8 of the Holidays Act 1951 for Peninsular Malaysia and Federal Territory of Labuan.

As for both Sabah and Sarawak, the PMO said the state governments need to declare their own holidays under the Holidays Ordinance of both states respectively.

Bersih had accused the EC of trying to suppress voter turnout by setting polling day on Wednesday, which is a working day in the middle of the week.

Caretaker deputy home minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed had previously said there was no need for polling day to be declared a public holiday, as existing laws require employers to allow their workers time to vote.

Caretaker human resources minister Richard Riot urged employers to give time to their workers to vote. - Mkini