Voters in China left at the post

Global bersih: ‘next to zero’ chance of ballot papers arriving on time

PETALING JAYA: Malaysian voters in Beijing are likely to be left out of the 15th General Election. Their postal ballots have yet to arrive. They are not alone. According to estimates of unofficial sources, about 20% to 30% of the total 48,109 papers for Malaysians abroad have yet to arrive. Some could be arriving today while there are those that will arrive on polling day on Nov 19.

China, especially, is badly hit because the country has imposed strict Covid-19 control measures where international mail has to be disinfected and quarantined for seven days at the port of entry before delivery.

According to the Election Commission’s (EC) figures, a total of 365,686 postal ballots were issued, of which 48,109 are for Malaysians overseas.

The ballots, along with the identity declaration known as Borang 2, must be returned to the returning officers by 5pm on Saturday.

Global Bersih’s secretary-general Nirmala Devi Windgaetter said that with ballot papers still being held in quarantine in Beijing at press time, there was “next to zero chance of sending it back”.

“If we had 21-25 days of campaigning – the Beijing ballots could be still sent back,” she said.

Malaysians in some parts of the United States too have yet to receive their ballot papers at press time.

They are likely to miss their chance to vote even if the papers arrived yesterday.

The last flyer – a passenger carrying the ballot papers – leaves San Francisco today. The last flight from New York will be 10pm tonight (last night),” she said.

Global Bersih is a Geneva-based international movement of overseas Malaysians.

It has worked to mobilise volunteers to coordinate the return of ballot papers through flyers or courier service.

She said Malaysians abroad are frustrated with the same issues that have persisted since the previous elections, such as late arrival of ballot papers, incomplete ballots and the lack of communication from the EC.

She added that even if ballots arrived, it would cost about RM350 for express courier services.

“We are so thankful to volunteers who are willing to fly back with the ballots to hand them over to local logistics organisers, Undi18.

“The main challenge now is to expedite the ballot returning process. Global Bersih has started a Facebook page to connect overseas Malaysians,” she said.

She added that the window to send the ballots via express couriers is already closed in most countries. The window to send ballots through a flyer is also slowly drawing to a close with just a few days left to Nov 19.

“For the overseas postal system to work, a longer campaign period is needed. All the reforms so far are meaningless if such a basic matter – enough time to receive and return ballots – is not solved. Postal voting is now not a privilege but a burden. Maybe, it’s time to look into a hybrid postal voting system,” she said, adding that more than 100 flyers have volunteered so far.

“There will never be enough as we need to fly every single vote back,” she said. “It is the timing that makes it so difficult.”

Undi18, which is handling the local logistics, will close at 3pm on Nov 18.

Meanwhile, Global Bersih and Global Malaysian Network will run the Volunteer Runners Network (VRN) from 3pm – 11pm on Nov 18th, which will cover the whole of Peninsular Malaysia, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu to send out the ballots to the constituencies by 5pm on Nov 19th.