Kuala Lumpur: The Election Commission (EC) is studying ways to allow young Sabahans and Sarawakians residing in the peninsula, as well as West Malaysians living in the Bornean states, to cast their ballots wherever they are.
Law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said it was the people’s democratic right to vote no matter where they were in the country.
“There are many Sarawakians and Sabahans residing in the peninsula and many from the peninsula residing in the two states who should have the opportunity to exercise their democratic right to vote.
“It is our (the government’s) responsibility to ensure they can vote wherever they are,” he told the Dewan Rakyat.
He said the EC was studying how best to implement a voting system to achieve this, adding that it could be facilitated through either postal voting or online voting.
He was responding to a question from Dr Kelvin Yii (PH-Bandar Kuching), who asked what the government was doing to allow young voters from Sabah and Sarawak to cast their ballots while studying in the peninsula.
Last October, the government drew criticism for its reluctance to allow Sabah and Sarawak voters residing in Peninsular Malaysia to vote by post.
Deputy law minister Mas Ermieyati Samsudin had told the Dewan Rakyat that Sabahans and Sarawakians living in the peninsula were encouraged to change their voting constituencies to their latest places of residence to facilitate voting in an election.
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