There has been much chatter online and in coffee shops on the impact of a fixed term Parliament Act (system) and how Malaysians will benefit from it. Ideally, a fixed term Parliament Act will prevent a President or a Prime Minister from waking up one day and having to resign and or by fait acompli, dissolve Parliament and thrusting the nation into an election after another election at the whims and fancies of MPs and political parties’ resulting in chaos and instability.
I cite here Kenya as an example. The Constitution of Kenya requires that a General Election of Parliamentarians be held on the second Tuesday of August on every fifth year. This fixed term keeps the power of the President and the Government in check and at the same time, prevents permanent misrule. If there is war, the elections may be delayed with a two-thirds majority vote on a resolution in the Lower and the Upper Houses.
On an impactful level in Malaysia, a fixed term Parliamentary Act may just as well be the silver bullet Malaysians, especially Malaysians overseas have been waiting for – an improved overseas electoral system.
Time and time again, Malaysians overseas have been lamenting on the lack of clear step-by-step and up to date information on the voting process set in place by the Malaysian Election Commission (EC). For example, in GE13, Malaysians were allowed to cast their votes at the Malaysian Foreign Missions (MFM) but were unable to do so in GE14.
Apart from that, the short time frame given for the EC to send ballot papers to Malaysians in respective countries and for them to vote and send the ballot papers back in a short period of time has proven to a huge obstacle in the electoral process. This is also not accounting for the cost to send a ballot paper back to Malaysia that may cost between €73 (RM376) and €91 (RM469) using the services of a private courier service which may still take 3 to 4 days and between 15 to 21 days from the United States and Europe to Malaysia through normal post. A student on a tight budget may have to make the hard decision on spending that kind of money on his or her vote for meals for at least 5 days.
Working Malaysians have been residing overseas for decades now and with the increased number of exchange students and those pursuing to further studies abroad, paired with automatic voters’ registration of 18-year-olds and above, more and more Malaysians anticipate elections as a means to send a message on reform, good governance and for a just Malaysia with a stroke of their pens on their overseas ballot papers.
In GE15, countless Malaysians overseas set up a system amongst themselves to ferry this priceless cargo back to Malaysia from collection points all over the world from Malaysians who could not afford to post them nor travel home to vote or to the embassies. These patriotic Malaysians then ferried the ballot papers and upon arrival in KLIA coordinated with local CSOs like Undi18 and Vote Malaysia to be then dispersed to respective states into the hands of the EC Returning Officers. This precious cargo was treated with utmost care to ensure the voices of Malaysians living abroad are heard in the elections.
But what about Malaysians who did not get their ballot papers in time? Or those who received it on the eve of the elections, or worse, after the polling dates? This conundrum is due to the flawed system we have in place presently.
With technology at our fingertips, the Election Commission also has to be up to date and responsible to assist and aid Malaysians in casting their ballots overseas.
Global Bersih has recommended that, amongst others, that Malaysians are allowed to register any time before Parliament is dissolved, a one week period to validate an overseas postal voter, to publicise any changes at least 6 months before nomination day, redesign ballots, forms and envelopes that will ease ballot issuing process, for the EC to work with Malaysian Foreign Missions (MFM) to identify how long it takes for ballot papers to be sent to overseas locations and to be returned, to extend postal voting for Sabah and Sarawak and also Singapore, Brunei, Kalimantan and Southern Thailand, to use 2-factor or 3-factor authentication to enable Malaysians to register online as overseas postal voters, for EC to provide reason as to why an overseas postal registration is rejected, for the MFMs to be trained to engage with overseas Malaysians to offer unbiased information and voter privacy, to permit non-Malaysians to act as witnesses on postal ballot documents and allow postal voters to download and print PDF versions of postal voting documents.
All in all, the Election Commission must take accountability over the whole process. As of Oct 9, 2022, the Election Commission (EC) recorded 21.17 million eligible voters, an addition of over 6.23 million new voters. Therefore, the Election Commission must be serious to heed the call, proposals and suggestions by the Parliamentary Special Select Committee on Human Rights, Election and Institutional Reform on electoral reform particularly on overseas electoral processes. While time is on our hands, yet we do not have much of it and all stakeholders must prioritise the fruition of the recommendations come GE16 and, before that, the Sabah state elections.
A fixed term Parliamentary system will not only create an enlightened Malaysian society that is aware and understands how the Malaysian Parliamentary system works but more importantly also for the million more Malaysians living and working overseas to ease their voting process abroad.
[Chinese Version]
固定国会任期可行,
有利于海外国人投票
===============
（吉隆坡23日讯）行动党全国副主席郭素沁说，固定国会任期是改革海外大马人大选投票制度的大好契机。
她指出，”固定国会任期的目的是防止首相某天醒来，指示解散议会，为图政治自保而将国家推往进行一场混乱的选举。”
她以非洲肯雅为例。肯雅宪法规定，每五年八月的第二个星期二举行国会大选。这一固定任期限制了总统和政府的权力，同时防止了不当统治。如果当时发生战争，上、下议院以三分之二多数票议决，即可推迟选举。
郭素沁今日发表文告说，对马来西亚带来影响的微观层面而言，固定任期国会正是国人，尤其是海外大马人一直在等待的灵丹妙药——革新海外投票制度。
她指出，海外的大马人屡屡抱怨选举委员会制定的投票程序缺乏清晰的步骤和最新讯息更新。例如，在第13届大选，大马人允许在海外大使馆投票，但在第14届大选却无法持续这样做。
除此之外，她继指出，选委会对海外大马人寄送选票、在短时间内投票及寄回选票，造成投票过程的巨大障碍。这还不包括邮寄选票的费用可能在 73 欧元（376 令吉）至 91 欧元（469 令吉）之间。另外需要3至4天和15 到21天，分别从美国和欧洲邮寄选票回马。对经济不好的学生，不得不做出艰难的决定，是否将这笔钱用在至少 5 天的膳食上。
她指出，随着交换生和出国深造人数的增加，再加上18岁及以上的选民自动登记，越来越多的海外大马人期待通过投票来传达改革、善治和公正的讯息。
在第15届大选中，无数海外大马人建立了一个系统，从世界各地收集下来的选票运回家乡，然而，他们无力邮寄选票，也无法回家或前往大使馆投票。爱国的大马人将选票运到吉隆坡国际机场后，与 Undi 18 和民间组织协调，将选票分送到各州，交给选委会。这些珍贵的选票得到极其小心的处理，确保海外大马人的心声被听到。
但是，没有及时收到选票、或者在选举前夕，或更糟糕的是，过了投票日收到选票这些问题，是现有的制度所致，即没有固定国会任期，而国会是根据执政党的兴致而解散。
“今天，有了触手可及的技术便利，选委会必须与时俱进，负责协助大马人在海外投票。”
全球净选盟作出多项建议，允许国人在国会解散前的任何时间进行登记；一周的时间验证海外邮寄选民身份、在提名日至少 6 个月前公布任何变动、选票重新设计、表格信封、简化选票发放流程，让选委会与大马驻外大使馆配合，确定选票送到地点和返回时间；延长沙巴和砂拉越、新加坡、汶莱、加里曼丹和泰国南部邮寄投票范围；使用二因素或三因素身份验证，让大马人 在线上登记为海外邮寄选民，并提供被拒绝的理由；对海外大使馆职员提供培训，与海外大马人接触，提供公正讯讯息和保障选民隐私；允许非大马人担任邮寄选票的证人，并允许下载和打印选票的 PDF 版本。
截至 2022 年 10 月 9 日，选委会登记了 2117 万合格选民，新增选民超过 623 万。因此，她说，选委会必须认真听取“国会人权、选举和机构改革特别委员会” 对选举改革的呼吁和建议。“我们没有太多时间，所有相关者都必须优先考虑第16届大选以及沙巴州选举的建议。”
她说，固定国会任期不仅将创造一个开明的社会，也让民众了解国会的运作方式，更重要的是，也能让数百万在海外生活和工作的大马人，简化投票的程序。
郭素沁