We were told that overseas Malaysians cannot vote in the general elections because it will be a logistical nightmare and these Malaysians (having lived abroad for so long) are “out of touch” with the current state of affairs of the country. Honestly, I can’t follow the logic.
Well, our neighbors Thailand and Singapore certainly did not think it was a logistical nightmare or believe that their citizens abroad are “out of touch”. In fact, Thai embassies even conduct campaigns to encourage Thais abroad to vote and have set aside a budget of 45 million baht for overseas voting. Even the country that started the Arab Spring, Tunisia allows its citizens living abroad to vote. And recently in Oct-2011, a Cairo (Egypt) court ruled that Egyptian citizens living overseas “should be allowed to vote” in the nation’s upcoming parliamentary elections. Even Pakistan is joining the bandwagon - a few weeks ago, Pakistan’s special inter-ministerial committee agreed to introduce postal ballot system for overseas Pakistanis on similar fashion as the system of postal balloting works for government servants and armed forces personnel within the country.
| Nations where its citizens abroad can vote Voting in person @ overseas polling stations Voting by post Voting by proxy |
| Australia |
| Canada |
| Singapore |
| United Kingdom |
| United States |
| New Zealand |
| Thailand |
| Philippines |
| Tunisia |
| Egypt (to be implemented in next elections) |
| Pakistan (in the process of implementing) |
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment