Absurd for EC to say come back every 5 years if Malaysians overseas to have right to vote...

Why must a Malaysian citizen be required to come back to Malaysia once every five(5) years to be eligible to vote? The 

“The only condition is (that citizens) must come back to Malaysia at least once in five years before Parliament is dissolved,” he said.

“This is to make sure that they know our political situation well before voting.”

Well, this is absurd for the EC has forgotten that we are in the ICT age, and any Malaysians overseas would really be fully aware of the political situation in Malaysia by just accessing the internet - not only would they have access to on-line version of mainstream media but also alternative media, and even Blogs, social networking sites... to be aware sometimes of the real political situation in the country not just the doctored, biased  and manipulated information  dished out by the main-stream media.

Well for some, coming back to Malaysia once every five(5) years is sometime not a luxury they can afford - money, work/study schedule, etc... are all factors to be considered. 

So, the right for Malaysians overseas to be able to vote should not be denied by such absurd conditions. All Malaysians must be accorded the said right.

Most importantly, they must be given reasonable time and opportunity to cast their votes, and this necessarily means that there must be significant time between nomination day and the day the ballot is cast, giving, of course, time for postal communications to reach the voter, time to consider and decide who to vote for, time to vote, and time for the ballot paper to come back in time to be counted...reasonably, I believe that this means the number of days between nominations and vote counting must at the very least be 21 days... will the EC ensure this?

The other concern, is whether the names and addresses (preferably also email addresses and phone contacts) of all these overseas voters must be provided forthwith on nomination day - this would accord candidates to campaign for the votes of these voters.

M'sians overseas can vote by post, says EC

Lee Way Loon 11:40AM Jul 11, 2012

The Election Commission (EC) today announced that Malaysian citizens living overseas can vote by post come the next general election.

At a media briefing this morning, EC chief Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof (centre) said the commission is in the midst of preparing the legislative changes to allow overseas Malaysians to vote.

“The only condition is (that citizens) must come back to Malaysia at least once in five years before Parliament is dissolved,” he said.

“This is to make sure that they know our political situation well before voting.”

Aziz said the EC would table the amendments at the next Parliament sitting in September, if this was required.

“The system can be implemented by September if we have to amend the law, but it can be done earlier than that (if legal amendments are not needed).” - Malaysiakini, 11/7/2012, M'sians overseas can vote by post, says EC