KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 19 — Undi18 co-founder Tharma Pillai today said that VoteMalaysia has managed to bring home 35,092 postal ballots from 25 countries that have since been sent to all polling centres nationwide.
VoteMalaysia is an non-partisan coalition of Malaysian youth groups from all over the globe in collaboration with Undi18.
The VoteMalaysia initiative was established after witnessing the failures of the existing postal voting system, especially during the 2022 Johor State Election.
"We would like to thank the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH) for giving us space to create a postal ballot distribution centre, the first of its kind in Malaysia.
"We are also grateful to all the volunteers, whether from youth organisations or the general public who came enthusiastically to help us at the KLSCAH.
‘Without the help of nearly 200 volunteers, it would be impossible for the distribution of postal ballots to be done quickly and smoothly, and to be sent to all corners of the country,” Tharma said.
He also thanked Global Bersih and Global Malaysian Network for convincing Malaysians abroad to register as postal voters.
"Among the successes of the VoteMalaysia initiative was increasing the number of category 1B postal vote registrations from 7,979 registrations for GE14 (14th general election) to 48,109 registrations.
"Help bring home postal ballots from 25 countries, including the United Kingdom, Singapore, Japan, Australia, Qatar, South Korea, and India and also bring home 73 per cent of registered postal votes from around the world," he said.
Tharma said the success of VoteMalaysia initiative is a sign of Election Commission's failure.
"A more effective system should be implemented as soon as possible, so that overseas postal voters do not have to continue to depend on civil society groups or have to fly back on their own, due to the problematic postal ballot delivery and handling system,” he added.
The VoteMalaysia initiative was established in order to coordinate postal voting on a global scale for the GE15 as well as to voice out the concerns of all Malaysians overseas to the EC.
