Press Statement: 6 January 2012

BERSIH 2.0: Judge Failed to Uphold Constitutional Rights of Overseas Malaysians

BERSIH 2.0 is deeply disappointed with the decision given by Judge Rohana Yusuf on the application by six overseas Malaysians to register as absent voters.

The judge failed to uphold the constitutional rights of the applicants. With this one decision, the judge has effectively disenfranchised not just the six applicants, but up to approximately 700,000 overseas Malaysians.

Article 119 of the Federal Constitution clearly defines an absent voter as any qualified and registered voter who is not a resident in his or her constituency. It is the duty of the Election Commission (EC) to uphold the democratic rights of all citizen of Malaysia. However, the EC has failed to uphold the right to vote of overseas Malaysians.

BERSIH 2.0 has maintained that reform of absentee voting is of utmost importance in ensuring enfranchisement of all voters. We reiterate our call to the EC to immediately make the necessary arrangements including amendments to the Elections (Registration of Electors) Regulations 2002 to enfranchise all overseas Malaysians.

Salam BERSIH 2.0!

Steering Committee

Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH 2.0)

The Steering Committee of BERSIH 2.0 comprises:

Dato’ Ambiga Sreenevasan (Co-Chairperson), Datuk A. Samad Said (Co-Chairperson), Ahmad Shukri, Andrew Khoo, Arul Prakkash, Arumugam K., Dr Farouk Musa, Liau Kok Fah, Maria Chin Abdullah, Richard Y W Yeoh, Dr Subramaniam Pillay, Dato’ Dr Toh Kin Woon, Dr Wong Chin Huat, Dato’ Yeo Yang Poh and Zaid Kamaruddin.