YOURSAY 'For a Chinese party to call for the disenfranchisement of Chinese Malaysians working overseas is strange indeed.'

Ambiga ticks off MCA over right to vote

David Dass: External voting is highly relevant to the many people who are travelling or working around the globe.

The number of countries with external voting provisions has increased in recent years. Currently some 115 countries allow voting from abroad. More and more countries are considering the possibility of introducing external voting as a right for voters residing temporarily or permanently abroad.

Mexico, Afghanistan, Mongolia, Iraq, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Singapore, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic are examples of where external voting has been introduced during the last four years. If 115 countries can do it, why can't we?

There is a sea change in the country. This change has come about with people being better educated and better informed. The new technology has broken the stranglehold of mainstream media.

Developments overseas have had an impact. The exposure Malaysians have had of different cultures and different ways of doing things have also altered perspectives. But political parties have failed to adapt. They still use old paradigms to try maintain their constituencies.

One such paradigm is race. The other is religion. This 'We are Chinese, we must stick together' and 'We are Malays, we must unite' and 'We are Indians, we can only rely on ourselves' approach to our politics is fast disappearing.

The realisation that we are Malaysians first - in for the long haul - is growing despite attempts to raise racial barriers on all sides. This desperation in politics makes people do strange things.

For a Chinese party to call for the disenfranchisement of Chinese working overseas is strange indeed.

Bernard Phillips: The right to vote is now a universal right. Millions of people the world over now live and work in foreign lands.

And countries go out of their way to ensure that their nationals have this right to vote their choice of government - be it advanced western democracies or even less developed countries in the Middle East and Africa.

It should be a matter of pride for a nation to claim that their nationals all over the world are engaged in this exercise.

Except for Malaysia, where the BN leaders feel that this right should be restricted to only residents in the country as overseas residents are not fully aware of the local issues. And this is 2011 and the age of the Internet.

Democracy: "Its president Dr Chua Soi Lek (CSL) later clarified that it is also because allowing these people to vote will pose a logistical challenge."

Isn't the logistic challenge a problem for the Election Commission (EC) to handle? Why is CSL saying that it is a logistic problem and not EC?

It should be EC telling the PSC (parliamentary select committee) this, not MCA or CSL.

MCA Member: I am a MCA member. I am beginning to seriously doubt the calibre of many within the MCA leadership, particularly party president Dr Chua Soi Lek.

What type of lame excuse he gave for opposing overseas' voters right to vote. In today's Internet age, overseas Malaysians are exposed to news from both the mainstream and alternative media.

Perhaps the real reason for the MCA president's view is his fear that overseas Malaysians have a more balanced view.

Honesty: MCA is a racial party. The most left-out voters from overseas are Chinese Malaysians who were educated enough to give up hope on MCA.

MCA is fearing its shadow. They are only putting up a brave front because they were asked to do this by its big brother.

Milosevic: If being ‘out of touch' is the criterion, the MCA stooges and their Umno mafia bosses would long ago have been denied the vote. That they are political office holders is the travesty of the Malaysian political system.

Why do we have third-rate arguments from the political class? Just say that you would like to rule forever and will do anything to realise that.

Say also that you are weak men who need enormous money for your narcissism, and you don't have the talent to make money in the global marketplace, so you need political power for lining your pockets.

You will actually get more respect. And I might even vote for you due to your honesty.

Tell the Truth: MCA has sent its central committee member Ei Kim Hock to the PSC (parliamentary select committee) to commit ‘harakiri' for the party.

In making a sweeping statement to disallow overseas Malaysians to vote is tantamount to taking away their constitutional rights to vote.

After all, if I need to work overseas for my bread and butter or if I am posted overseas, does it mean I am out of touch and don't deserve to vote?

Moontime: MCA must be living in the 60s. To offer such a flimsy excuse like logistical problems and that Malaysians residing overseas are out of touch with the local situation and therefore cannot be allowed to vote, is absolute rubbish.

Clearly BN is afraid that they will lose power in this coming GE. They will try their best to maintain the status quo but sometimes their attempts seem to be overzealous, stupid and childish.

Don't they know that every Malaysians regardless of where they live, once registered as a voter, can and should be given the opportunity to vote?

I think we deserve more intelligent representatives in the Dewan Rakyat instead of these out-of-touch politicians in power now. Let's all ensure that BN become the opposition in the next GE, shall we?

Fencesitter: Bersih chairperson S Ambiga has whacked them with their own bullets.

Malaysian Born: The right to vote is a constitutional one - we don't need MCA or anyone else to decide who can and cannot vote. How in touch with the local politics or out of touch the citizen of Malaysia is would be entirely irrelevant.

If you allow these buffoons to decide now on, according to them, the ‘selective right to vote', what will they do next? Disallow Malaysian citizens who are not graduates or perhaps those who live too far away from voting centres?

It is the duty of the government and the Election Commission to make sure that all Malaysians are given the best opportunity to vote and if this means that our high commissions and consulates participate, in addition to postal votes, then why not.

We are global players and our citizens need to be where they need to be to prosper. It is important that policy suggestions are not garnered from those that are intellectually challenged and have no understanding of the constitution.

CKL: The most important thing to do is to make sure that all Malaysians can exercise their constitutional duty, that is, to choose a government through free and fair elections.

Every true democracy does this. They do this using the facilities of their embassies. So what is so difficult?

We are not asking MCA to do any rocket science stuff. The real reason behind this stupid thinking is that the MCA and BN know the vast majority of overseas voters will vote the opposition.

But such words from the MCA president only shows how shallow and desperate they are.

Nicc: There are more important local issues to be dealt with, i.e. postal voting, gerrymandering, electoral roll, etc. Each of them deserve so much attention.

I'm just not sure if this is the right time to debate about the logistics of overseas voting.

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