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With Mahathir's announcement of no general election before October, Election Commission should spend the next three to six months to prepare a clean and comprehensive electoral roll which is phantom voter-free and registers at least 90 per cent of eligible voters Media Comment - at the DAP Chinese New Year Open House by Lim Kit Siang (Petaling Jaya, Sunday): With the announcement by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad that there would be no general election before he retires in October, the Election Commission should spend the next three to six months to prepare a clean and comprehensive electoral roll whose integrity is unchallenged in being able to meet two criteria: phantom voter-free and registers at least 90 per cent of the eligible voters. Early this week, the Election Commission Secretary Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar made two startling statements: That there had only been some 122,000 applications for voter registration or change of address since the introduction of the round-the-year voter registration system last July; and That those who registered less than three months before the dissolution of Parliament and the State Assemblies would not be eligible to cast their vote in the next general election. The right to vote is the most fundamental right of a citizen in a democratic country and this is why the integrity and comprehensiveness of the electoral roll is a critical factor in determining whether an election is free, fair and clean. In Malaysia, the electoral system has been marred by the inability of the Election Commission to protect the credibility and integrity of the electoral register by ensuring firstly, that it is phantom voter-free and secondly, that every eligible voter can be registered on the electoral roll with the minimum of hassle so as to be able to exercise the constitutional right to vote in a general election. One of the greatest blots of the Election Commission is the scandal of the 680,000 young voters who were denied their right to vote in the 1999 general election although they had registered for more than seven months in the voters' registration exercise, on the outrageous ground that the Election Commission could not include them in the new electoral register in time for the November 1999 poll. Although there now appears to be an improvement in that a voter who had registered three months before the dissolution of Parliament and the State Assemblies would be able to vote in the general election, this is still unsatisfactory and unacceptable in the era of information technology. The Election Commission should look at the voter registration systems in other countries which make a special point to ensure that there could be a final opportunity for eligible voters to be registered on the electoral roll after dissolution of the legislatures so that they could vote in the general election and introduce a similar system in Malaysia. In fact, in the 1999 New Zealand general election, New Zealanders could still vote by registering one day before polling day. In the era of IT, there is no reason why the Election Commission cannot create a window of opportunity of say a week after dissolution of Parliament for eligible voters to register on the electoral roll so as not to lose the constitutional right to vote in the general election. All that is needed is modification of the time-line between dissolution and polling to take account of such a final voter registration opportunity. Last October, the Election Commission announced that it was carrying out a campaign to boost voter registration for Putrajaya as it had only 60 registered voters although it is a new parliamentary constituency by itself. The Election Commission should be concerned about ensuring the maximum-possible registration of eligible voters in all constituencies, and not just Putrajaya. The round-the-year voter registration system introduced in July last year must be regarded as a big flop and the Election Commission must seek the help of all political parties, ruling and opposition, the NGOs and the civil society to introduce a new system which gives real meaning to the people's right to vote by ensuring the registration of a high percentage of eligible voters on the electoral list. When the round-the-year voter registration system was launched last July, there were 2.1 million Malaysians who had attained eligibility to register as voters. In the six months from July to January, only some 100,000 new voters had registered, excluding the over 20,000 applications from existing voters for change of address. This is less than five per cent of the eligible voters in July last year, without taking into account the new increase of eligible voters since then. Such a rate of voter registration is both scandalous and a big flop, as at least 50 per cent if not 60 - 70 per cent of the eligible voters should have been registered in the first six months of the system, and not less than 5%! The Election Commission should also consider introducing the system adopted in other countries of a rolling electoral register, which could be updated monthly instead of the present quarterly update it is using. On the elimination of the phantom voters, the Election Commission is still without a clue. The Election Commission now denies the allegations of the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister of 2.8 million phantom voters, but it is not prepared to ask the Barisan Nasional to substantiate the allegations or retract them unconditionally. Last November, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said that the Barisan Nasional would submit details on the 2.8 million voters, who had been transferred to other constituencies, to the Election Commission for action before the next general election. What has happened to these details? DAP cannot accept the Election Commission's flat denial of phantom voters, as we had been complaining about phantom voters for the past three decades. DAP fully agrees with the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who had said that there should not be much difficulty in tracking the phantom voters and cleaning up the electoral roll as the Election Commission and the relevant government departments are fully computerized. Abdullah had said: "A voter must be genuinely connected to the place where or she is registered. If the commission finds 20 or 30 persons using the same address, or the voters come from places unrelated to the place of registration, then something is wrong and this should be investigated." (Star 5.11.02) DAP calls on the Election Commission to be mindful of Abdullah's statement and the urgent need to launch a complete clean-up of the electoral roll to ensure that voting is not tainted by fraud, cheating and phantom votes. The next general election should not be held until a clean electoral register has been prepared, free of phantom voters well as comprehensive and authoritative in having at least 90 per cent of the eligible voters on the register. With the help of all political parties, NGOs and civic organizations in the era of information technology, there is no reason why such a two-fold objective, to have a voter registration-friendly system to enrol at least 90 per cent of eligible voters on the electoral list and to eradicate all phantom voters, cannot be achieved.   (9/2/2003) * Lim Kit Siang, DAP National Chairman