Caretaker deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi says Malaysians working in Singapore need not return to vote in the 14th general election (GE14) if they can’t get leave on May 9.
Asked what his advice for Johoreans working in Singapore was when it comes to voting, said it was up to them whether they wanted to come back.
“We have announced a public holiday on voting day, so it is up to them if they want to come back to vote or otherwise.
“In my view, the government neither encourages nor discourages (returning to vote) as that is an individual right.
“But if the employer from said country (Singapore) does not permit (their Malaysian workers to take leave), then I think the best thing to do is to not come back to vote,” he said at a press conference in Kluang, Johor today.
GE14 will be held midweek on a Wednesday much to the ire of many voters.
The announcement has led to a social media campaigns encouraging Malaysians to return to their hometowns to cast their ballots on May 9.
Several Singaporean companies have declared that they will grant leave to all their Malaysian staff to return to vote.
The Malaysian government has also declared May 9 a public holiday in Malaysia,
Meanwhile, caretaker deputy home minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed said it was wrong for the opposition to encourage outstation voters to come back to vote.
“The principle of using outstation voters to influence the result of the constituency is wrong because at the end of the day they (the opposition candidates) do not hold their seat for every election.
“The candidates keep moving around. Even if they win, they don’t serve their constituency and the next election they look for another place to avoid the issues in their own constituency,” he was quoted as saying by The Star.
ACCORDING to Today Online:
IKEA SINGAPORE GIVES MALAYSIAN WORKERS DAY OFF TO VOTE IN GE14
SINGAPORE – To help its Malaysian employees head home for Malaysia’s 14th general election (GE14) on May 9, Swedish furniture giant Ikea said on Thursday it will give them an extra day of paid leave.
But the employer appears to be the exception. It was the only company contacted by TODAY that is making a special concession to help Malaysian employees return home to vote. Out of about 30 firms contacted, five responded to queries.
The Malaysian Election Commission’s announcement this week of polling day, which is a Wednesday, has triggered a scramble for bus and plane tickets among overseas Malaysians looking to travel home.
Malaysians living in Singapore, Brunei, southern Thailand and Kalimantan in Indonesia are not eligible to vote by post and are required to return to the country on election day to cast their vote.
About 80 Malaysians work at Ikea’s stores and service office in Singapore. “Ikea Southeast Asia has decided to extend one paid day of leave to any Malaysian co-worker who wishes to travel home in order to cast a vote,” said Corinna Schuler, Ikea Southeast Asia’s head of corporate communication.
“We want to enable our co-workers to take individual responsibility in their communities and countries as well. This benefit will make it a little easier for them to exercise the right to vote in Malaysia’s election,” she said.
Those who need more than one day off will be able to apply for annual leave, she added.
Some firms cited operational constraints and said they would monitor the situation.
Public bus operator Go-Ahead Singapore – the only one out of four here that responded to media queries by Thursday evening – said it supports its Malaysian workers who wish to vote in the general election, but this is “conditional upon the complete fulfilment” of its operational requirements.
As Go-Ahead Singapore’s shift schedules are planned, most Malaysian employees will have “ample time” to return home, said a spokesperson. The company will facilitate feasible arrangements where necessary.
Semi-conductor firm Infineon Technologies does not expect the impact of Malaysian workers heading home to vote to be significant, but is “closely monitoring the development” and gathering feedback from workers.
More than a quarter of its staff are Malaysian, and Infineon’s spokesman said it may tap Singaporeans and workers of other nationalities to work overtime to keep its production line running normally.
“There is no special provision like early release, at least not until the polling hours are known,” said the spokesman.
Some Malaysian workers may also be “less willing to go through the inconveniences (of travelling back) on a hectic day like this”, he added.
The National Healthcare Group (NHG) and supermarket chain NTUC FairPrice said their Malaysian staff who wish to return to Malaysia to vote could apply for annual leave.
“We do not expect our operations to be affected as the majority of FairPrice’s workforce is Singaporean. Shift work also provides flexibility in deployment of staff and limits disruption to operations. While there is no special leave provision for this day, employees can apply for leave as per FairPrice’s usual internal leave application process,” said FairPrice’s spokesman.
“Similar to all leave applications, approval of annual leave is subject to operational constraints. NHG will facilitate and support such leave applications where operationally possible,” said NHG’s spokesman. – TODAY ONLINE
PETALING JAYA: Malaysians working in Singapore are determined to return home to cast their votes despite the inconvenience posed by the midweek polling day.
For Loo Xian, 28, the reason is simple – Malaysia is home.
Loo, who works at an international fashion house in Singapore, said all of her Malaysian colleagues would be making their way to their hometowns to cast their votes on May 9.
“Although being in Singapore is better than Malaysia in many ways, Malaysia is still the home you want to come back to.
“Let me say this: the more they try to make it difficult for us to go back to vote, the more I want to prove them wrong,” Loo said.
Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed said in January that Malaysian voters living in Singapore were not expected to return in numbers to vote in the 14th general election (GE14) as they felt that they had been “cheated” by the opposition in past polls.
The Pulai lawmaker also dismissed the possibility of Malaysians in Singapore tilting the balance towards the opposition, especially in Johor where most of them are registered as voters.
His remarks have now resurfaced and gone viral on social media, reposted by Malaysians who are unhappy with it.
Loo said one of her colleagues was travelling back to Teluk Intan for the polls.
“We are just applying for our leave days and our boss has agreed to let us go home to vote. We are very grateful for that.
“Another way to get around this is, we can request to work remotely,” she added.
Shatir Baha, 35, said it was wrong for Nur Jazlan to make assumptions about those working in Singapore.
“Many of us have to resort to working in Singapore because we can’t find jobs in Malaysia that pay us enough to support the rising cost of living.
“If we had a choice, we would of course prefer to stay in Malaysia. Nobody wants to leave their families and work in another country.
“I have already bought my flight ticket home, and I will make sure that I do my bit to ensure that Malaysians will no long have to work in Singapore,” he said.
Shatir said together, Malaysians could help rebuild the nation and make the country great again with higher paying job opportunities.
Anita Hassan, 31, who also works in Singapore, said she and her friends had been waiting for the Election Commission’s (EC) announcement on the nomination and polling dates so that they could book their tickets home.
“Some of us were anticipating polling day to be in early May.
“We planned our schedules around those few weeks. None of us booked any holidays abroad, just in case.
“So, Nur Jazlan, we are coming back,” she said.
Some are even considering taking unpaid leave so that they can return to cast their votes.
Lim Thian Yi, 34, who is from Johor, said he and his colleagues had already applied for two days of leave, including a day of unpaid leave.
“A lot of Johoreans work in Singapore, they are used to the travelling.
“Some may not be able to take too many days off, but they are willing to risk it. For the first time, I am witnessing so much unity after the last general election. I feel Malaysians are even more united this time around,” he said.
Nur Jazlan had also questioned Hong Kong-based airline, Cathay Pacific, for offering a waiver for rebooking and rerouting charges for Malaysians travelling on polling day.
He recently said there was no need to declare May 9 a public holiday as under the law, employers were required to give their employees time off to to cast their votes.
In the 2008 and 2013 elections, scores of Malaysians in Singapore returned home to vote, causing massive congestion at the Causeway.
The human resources ministry estimated in 2015 that there were about 350,000 Malaysians working in Singapore and another 386,000 with permanent resident status.
The EC had announced earlier that those residing in southern Thailand, Singapore, Brunei and Kalimantan province, Indonesia, cannot apply
PETALING JAYA: Malaysians working in Singapore are determined to return home to cast their votes despite the inconvenience posed by the midweek polling day.
For Loo Xian, 28, the reason is simple – Malaysia is home.
Loo, who works at an international fashion house in Singapore, said all of her Malaysian colleagues would be making their way to their hometowns to cast their votes on May 9.
“Although being in Singapore is better than Malaysia in many ways, Malaysia is still the home you want to come back to.
“Let me say this: the more they try to make it difficult for us to go back to vote, the more I want to prove them wrong,” Loo said.
Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed said in January that Malaysian voters living in Singapore were not expected to return in numbers to vote in the 14th general election (GE14) as they felt that they had been “cheated” by the opposition in past polls.
The Pulai lawmaker also dismissed the possibility of Malaysians in Singapore tilting the balance towards the opposition, especially in Johor where most of them are registered as voters.
His remarks have now resurfaced and gone viral on social media, reposted by Malaysians who are unhappy with it.
Loo said one of her colleagues was travelling back to Teluk Intan for the polls.
“We are just applying for our leave days and our boss has agreed to let us go home to vote. We are very grateful for that.
“Another way to get around this is, we can request to work remotely,” she added.
Shatir Baha, 35, said it was wrong for Nur Jazlan to make assumptions about those working in Singapore.
“Many of us have to resort to working in Singapore because we can’t find jobs in Malaysia that pay us enough to support the rising cost of living.
“If we had a choice, we would of course prefer to stay in Malaysia. Nobody wants to leave their families and work in another country.
“I have already bought my flight ticket home, and I will make sure that I do my bit to ensure that Malaysians will no long have to work in Singapore,” he said.
Shatir said together, Malaysians could help rebuild the nation and make the country great again with higher paying job opportunities.
Anita Hassan, 31, who also works in Singapore, said she and her friends had been waiting for the Election Commission’s (EC) announcement on the nomination and polling dates so that they could book their tickets home.
“Some of us were anticipating polling day to be in early May.
“We planned our schedules around those few weeks. None of us booked any holidays abroad, just in case.
“So, Nur Jazlan, we are coming back,” she said.
Some are even considering taking unpaid leave so that they can return to cast their votes.
Lim Thian Yi, 34, who is from Johor, said he and his colleagues had already applied for two days of leave, including a day of unpaid leave.
“A lot of Johoreans work in Singapore, they are used to the travelling.
“Some may not be able to take too many days off, but they are willing to risk it. For the first time, I am witnessing so much unity after the last general election. I feel Malaysians are even more united this time around,” he said.
Nur Jazlan had also questioned Hong Kong-based airline, Cathay Pacific, for offering a waiver for rebooking and rerouting charges for Malaysians travelling on polling day.
He recently said there was no need to declare May 9 a public holiday as under the law, employers were required to give their employees time off to to cast their votes.
In the 2008 and 2013 elections, scores of Malaysians in Singapore returned home to vote, causing massive congestion at the Causeway.
The human resources ministry estimated in 2015 that there were about 350,000 Malaysians working in Singapore and another 386,000 with permanent resident status.
The EC had announced earlier that those residing in southern Thailand, Singapore, Brunei and Kalimantan province, Indonesia, cannot apply for postal voting and must return to Malaysia to cast their votes on polling day.
– MKIN / TODAY ONLINE/ FMT
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