The Election Commission (EC) should enforce an automatic voter registration system to ensure that all eligible Malaysians are enlisted to vote and do not miss out on an opportunity to exercise their democratic rights.

voting voters election 030707 Bukit Bendera Member of Parliament Liew Chiew Tong today suggested that the EC work closely with the National Registration Department (NRD) to set up a legal mechanism to address the problem of the almost five million eligible Malaysians who have not registered to vote.

"The commission must enforce a legislation to make sure the unregistered millions are registered to exercise their democratic rights in choosing an elected representative, in state or federal government.

"It would not be proportionately representative to have a minority group voting to decide the fate of candidates when majority of them remain as unregistered voters."

According to Liew, only seven million registered voters turned up to vote during the March general election, while four million registered voters did not cast their ballots.

Combined with those who have not registered to vote, a staggering nine million Malaysians are not exercising their democratic rights.

Election watchdog, Malaysians for Free and Fair Election (Mafrel) northern region co-ordinator, BK Ong concurred with Liew, adding that the EC should work closely with the NRD.

Updated data vital

He said Mafrel checks revealed that data in the NRD was more up-to-date compared to the EC's data bank on voters in the country.

ong boon keong Ong ( right ) recalled the cases of missing names in three polling stations during the Permatang Pauh by-election on Aug 26, when four registered voters could not cast their ballots as their names had 'disappeared' from an updated electoral roll.

Ironically, all five had voted during the March general election in the same constituency.

"Automatic registration and constant updating of electoral data bank by obtaining information from the NRD are the correct remedies to rectify the problem," said Ong.

Both Liew and Ong also agreed for the voting age to be lowered from the present 21 to 18, and called on the EC to implement the usage of indelible ink to address the problem of phantom voters.

"When a 17-year-old is being allowed to obtain a driving licence, an 18-year-old should be allowed to vote," they both said, adding that such a policy was already in place in Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines and India.