By NNN-Bernama,
Kuala Lumpur : Some 4.39 million Malaysians, or about 28 per cent of those above the age of 21, have yet to register as voters as at the end of last year, says Election Commission (EC) Deputy Chairman Wan Ahmad Wan Omar.
Of the total, the central state of Selangor had the highest number of unregistered voters at 787,000 followed by Johor state (605,000), Perak (526,000) and Sarawak (473,000), he told Bernama here Monday.
“Most of them, or about 65 per cent, are Malays and Bumiputeras (indigenous people) of (the east Malaysian states of) Sabah and Sarawak. From the registration forms we received recently, we found that more non-Bumiputera youth were registering themselves as voters,” he said.
Up to the end of last year, there were 11.08 million registered voters in the country compared with an estimated 15.47 million eligible to register as voters, he added.
Wan Ahmad said the EC would seek the co-operation of non-governmental organizations, youth organizations or those organizing events involving the attendance of large numbers of people to inform the EC so that it could open voter registration counters.
“They can just contact us and inform us about their events and the EC will be very happy to open a counter there,” he added.
He also said that the EC would intensify efforts to register voters by putting up counters at shopping malls, participating in meet-the-client sessions organized by departments, going into the rural areas and appointing deputy registrars among political parties to register those qualified to be registered.
The public could also register as voters at 700 post offices nationwide, he said.
The EC would also seek the co-operation from the electronic media to encourage the public to register as voters, he added.
He attributed the current situation to the attitude of Malaysians who preferred to wait until the very last minute before registering. “Each time there is a general election, the EC receives at least a million application forms; so imagine the burden of certifying these applications within one or two months,” he said.
“When they cannot be registered on time, they blame the EC, when in fact they can register as voters throughout the year. The people should be aware that our election system practises a simple majority victory. A candidate can win even by a margin of one vote; so the voters have a huge responsibility in determining the future of our country.”