‘Register voters automatically at 21’

The Star

SUBANG JAYA: Malaysians who turn 21 should be automatically registered as voters, said former Election Commission (EC) chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman.

He said this would solve the issue of inadequate number of voters at the ballot.

“There are 16 million eligible Malaysians but only 12.5 million are registered as voters. Even with that figure, only 80% turned out on election day to vote,” he said.

Abdul Rashid, who had overseen six general elections and state elections, agreed that the automatic registration exercise would not be easy to implement.

“There are registered voters who had moved elsewhere and did not bother to change their addresses,” he said, adding that the EC cannot change the voters' address without consent.

On the Malaysian election system, Abdul Rashid said it was fair contrary to what the detractors say.

“I would say that our elections are free and fair, as far as our laws are concerned,” he said at a forum titled “MPs in Conversation: Parliamentary Elections & Funding” at Sunway University here on Thursday.

The other speakers were Rasah MP and DAP Socialist Youth national chief Anthony Loke, and Professor Dr Edmund Terence Gomez from the faculty of economics and administration of Universiti Malaya.