'Good idea' to have automatic voter registration

PETALING JAYA: Both the Election Commission (EC) and Bersih, the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections, described automatic voter registration as "a good idea".


The commission's deputy chairman Datuk Wira Wan Ahmad Wan Omar, however, cautioned that several issues need to be resolved first before automatic registration of voters can take place.

He was commenting on a suggestion by Deputy Higher Education Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah on Saturday that Malaysians who reached 21 years of age should automatically be registered as voters. Saifuddin was also in favour of reducing the voting age to 18.

Bersih 2.0 chairman Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan, who is overseas, in a text message to The Malay Mail said: "These (automatic voter registration and reducing voting age to 18) are in fact two of our long-term demands and we fully support them. These are changes that must be examined so as to bring us in line with changes that are taking place in other countries, including our neighbours."

Meanwhile Tan Sri Simon Sipaun said he agreed with Saifuddin’s suggestions.

"I do not understand why the government should be against or reluctant to introduce automatic voter registration if it is sincere in the promotion and practice of genuine democracy. The government cannot continue to avoid the issue because of globalisation, the rising literacy standard of Malaysians and easier access to modern means of communication such as the Internet," the former Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) commissioner said, adding that the suggestions was in line with Bersih's call for free and fair election.

Wan Ahmad explained that automatic voter registration cannot be implemented mainly due to the fact that most Malaysians had failed to update their addresses with the National Registration Department (NRD) which issues the MyKad. The EC uses the NRD database for voter registration.

"What we found is that most Malaysians do not update their addresses even when they have moved to another state, let alone houses. For example, a student from Kelantan who goes to Kuala Lumpur to further his studies or work needs to update his residential address on his MyKad. Under the law, if one moves, he or she needs to notify the NRD of the address change within 90 days but most Malaysians ignore this," he said.

"Under Article 119 of the Federal Constitution, a person who has attained 21 years of age is entitled to vote. If an automatic voter registration comes into effect, that student from Kelantan will be registered at his kampung although he is now staying in KL. If the intention of automatic registration is to get that person to vote during the election, the person might not be inclined to do so as he is living away from his constituency."

Wan Ahmad said although under the law the NRD was empowered to act against those who do not update their MyKads, the department had yet to invoke its power. He also said another way to facilitate automatic registration is to amend Article 119 to accommodate voters who have not updated their address in their MyKad.

"We can have automatic voter registration but to what end? Those who move away from the place they were issued their MyKads might find it troublesome to come back for one day just to vote. Some people may not even know where they were registered to vote in the first place."

Wan Ahmad said the current voluntary voter registration was probably the best practice.

"People volunteer to register to vote and when they move they update both the NRD and the commission. That's why we have one of the highest voter turnouts at 70 to 72 per cent. If they do not want to register, it is their right. If they register but do not vote because they think the candidates or parties in the elections are not worthy, it is also their right."

He said voluntary registration also meant government agencies do not surreptitiously exchange data of private citizens.

"Automatic voter registration is a good idea, no doubt, but it is something that must be thoroughly studied before any move is made."

Checks on the Internet showed only a handful of countries have automatic voter registration. Apparently, only Finland and Israel have automatic voter registration. Instead, there is now a trend for registration on voting day or Election Day Registration, to allow as many people as possible to cast their ballots.