I refer to the letter Let candidates know postal votes breakdown .

The writer says that it is not possible to abolish postal votes as demanded by Bersih and Mafrel because ‘postal votes are practiced in various forms by almost all democratic nations."

While it is true that democratic countries allow postal ballots, it is important to make one difference crystal clear between postal votes as practiced in Malaysia and the system as followed by true democracies.

In those countries, postal voting is in place to allow voters who cannot be present on voting day to cast their votes. This covers eventualities such as those travelling or studying overseas and the very few who genuinely would not be able to cast their vote in person because of duties on election day.

In the case of Malaysians; if you happen to work or study outside the country, your chances of casting a vote are very slim. For our recent general election, I gathered that only a few Malaysians, such as those on government scholarships, were able to cast postal votes. Judging from complaints posted on the Internet, other Malaysians outside the country were given the run-around instead of a ballot paper. Their fundamental right to vote was denied.

Instead, the postal vote system is abused in Malaysia to the point that every soldier in the country must cast a postal vote in the presence of his superiors and with his identification enclosed with his vote. This despite the fact that the vast majority of them could easily cast their vote in person like the rest of us on polling day. The communist insurgency ended decades ago.

Sure, I agree with the writer that the procedures for postal ballots need to be made completely transparent and fair but let’s not forget that the concept itself as practised in this country needs a complete overhaul before we can count Malaysia as belonging to the list of democratic countries.