SINGAPORE, Nov 16 — In addition to the nearly 21 million Malaysians who will cast ballots in this Saturday’s 15th general election, hundreds of their fellow citizens who live and work across the Causeway will also cast ballots — some via mail.
Malaysian volunteers under the auspices of 1thirdmedia Movement have joined hands to collect the postal votes around Singapore and take them back to Malaysia.
1thirdmedia Movement is one of the movements teaming up with Undi18, a Malaysian youth movement, to bring back postal votes from the island city.
They had done the same during the 15th Johor state election.
“There will be two deliveries tomorrow (Nov 17) via land and air transportation,” a volunteer, Farrah Diyana Mohamad Ali, told Bernama.
“For now, I can’t tell exactly the numbers as the collections are still ongoing.. but as of November 15 about six thousand envelopes have been collected,” she said.
According to Farrah Diyana, 34, five collection zones have been set up to cover the central, eastern, western, northern, and southern sectors of the island nation before they were combined to be taken back to Putrajaya.
“The clock is ticking and we are into the last hours until the cut-off tomorrow (November 17) at 2pm,” she reminded, adding that she anticipated a large crowd on the last day.
Another volunteer, Siti Azimah Abdullah, 48, who was tasked at the central zone said she is proudly involved to help her country mates here for the collection.
“Malaysians here have been rather cooperative and have been concerned about the country’s future.”
A registered voter in Kulim, Kedah, Siti Azimah feels a sense of responsibility towards the other Malaysians.
“No matter where we are, it is our duty to vote,” said Azimah, who did the collections after completing her morning working shift.
According to Undi18’s Twitter, there are a million Malaysian voters overseas. It has been sharing a few photos while receiving ballots from around the world at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), with China and Germany being the earliest.
Apart from the 1thirdmedia Movement, the others in the collection parade are Vote Malaysia and Global Malaysian Network.
According to Undi18, all the ballot envelopes will be taken to the sorting centre in Kuala Lumpur for the sorting process of the 222 Parliament and 117 State Legislative Assembly (DUN) and sent to the states including Sabah and Sarawak.
The deadline for postal ballot papers to be received by the managing officer at the Election Division is before 5pm on voting day. — Bernama
