Veterans group says Malaysia is not at war, and that a proper duty roster could allow troops stationed at their bases to vote on polling day.
Patriot group says postal voting should be limited to those who are away on duty and unable to return to base within a day. (Blogspot pic)
PETALING JAYA: A veterans group today called for a stop to postal voting for the military and police, saying there is no need for it given the country’s peaceful status.
Responding to the Election Commission’s (EC) recent move to increase postal voting categories for civil servants, the National Patriots Association (Patriot) said these should instead be reduced.
“Even for the military and the police, which form the largest groups eligible for postal voting, there is no need for postal voting at all.
“Unlike our time when we were fighting our nation’s enemies, when the bulk of the troops were either in the jungle or on standby for emergency deployment, we are now in peacetime and troops are stationed in their respective bases.
“A proper duty roster for the day could easily allow all the security forces personnel to vote on polling day,” Patriot president Brig-Gen (Rtd) Mohamed Arshad Raji said in a statement.
He said with proper management, the same could be done for other civil service departments such as immigration, customs, fire and rescue, prison and hospital.
“Postal voting should be strictly limited to those who are away on national duties and who are unable to return to base within a day, like naval patrol and maritime.”
He added that the group supported the call by electoral watchdog Bersih 2.0 for the postal voting system to be improved or abolished altogether.
This followed Bersih’s criticism of the EC yesterday for adding nine categories of postal voters, allegedly without justifying why they are considered eligible to vote remotely.
EC chairman Mohd Hashim Abdullah had said that besides EC staff and police and army personnel, staff of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, Prisons Department, Fire and Rescue Department, government hospitals and clinics, volunteer police, Civil Defence Force, Immigration Department, National Disaster Management Agency, and those from the National Registration Department stationed at urban transformation centres could apply to be postal voters.
Bersih condemns EC for adding 9 new categories of postal voters
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