Public holiday for polling day a gift of democracy to the people – Masing
KUCHING: Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Masing describes the public holiday for polling day on May 9 as a gift of democracy to the people.
“Now the people can go back and exercise their democratic rights. But I can tell you this, that now nobody can accuse us of having poling on weekday as a way of manipulating the outcome of the election.
“But a lot of members of the opposition seemed not to know history. They should look back at 22 years of Mahathir’s time, there were three times when polling day was done on weekdays. Why didn’t they complain?” said Masing yesterday.
As such, Masing said there was no basis for the opposition to criticise the Election Commission (EC).
“Polling during working days is nothing new in Malaysia. Opposition ‘marah’ (angry) at EC is without basis. It’s just a case of making noise in order to be heard by the public,” he said.
He said now that caretaker Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg had announced that May 9 is a public holiday, there should be no issue.
“This will allow those who wish to exercise their rights to vote for the government they wish. What else does the opposition want?” he asked.
He was responding to the recent issue raised by the opposition after EC fixed May 9, a Wednesday, to be the polling day after Najib announced the dissolution of parliament on Apr 10.
Following the announcement by EC, component parties of the opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan ( PH) - state DAP, state PKR and state Amanah - as well as local opposition party Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak Baru all expressed their dismay at the decision.
On Wednesday, however, the Prime Minister’s Department declared that May 9 would be a public holiday to allow voters to exercise their democratic rights.
And yesterday, the Chief Minister made the same announcement, quoting the state Public Holidays Ordinance.