Volunteer from 1thirdmedia Mohd Hafeez A. Jaz arrives at Larkin Sentral Bus Terminal with ballot papers for the 15th johor state election, March 10, 2022. — Picture by Hari Anggara
JOHOR BARU, March 10 — Several NGOs have pooled their resources and transported about 5,000 postal ballots from Singapore-based Johor voters via the land Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL).
This is to ensure the ballots arrive in time to be counted for the state election on Saturday.
At the Larkin Bus Terminal today, 1thirdmedia volunteer from Singapore, Mohd Hafeez A. Jaz, received a hero’s welcome when he emerged with a suitcase containing thousands of postal votes, which he and his group collected from Johor voters in the island nation.
Mohd Hafeez A. Jaz speaks to reporters at the Larkin Sentral Bus Terminal March 10, 2022. — Picture by Hari Anggara
After alighting from a yellow express bus, Hafeez said over the past week, around 39 volunteers in Singapore had fanned out across five regions — North, South, West, East and Central — to collect the ballots, which he then brought across the Causeway today.
“This was fun. This is the first time that ballots were transported by a land VTL bus.
“All in all, I think we have managed to bring back around 5,000 ballots already,” he told reporters at the terminal.
Undi18 volunteer Mandeep Singh speaks to reporters at the Larkin Sentral Bus Terminal March 10, 2022. — Picture by Hari Anggara
Undi18 volunteer Mandeep Singh, who was waiting to receive the ballots, added that the Malaysia team will now assume responsibility for them.
He explained that the ballots will be sorted out according to their respective seats before being sent directly by volunteers to each Returning Officer (RO) in charge of the relevant constituency.
“We did this because the border is still closed, and we wanted to avoid the ballots arriving late.
“We did not even know each other before this, but we had a few online meetings to coordinate our movements,” he said.
A bus carrying Malaysian volunteers in Singapore arrived at the Larkin Sentral Bus Terminal to hand over ballot papers to the Undi18 volunteers to be submitted to the Election Commission for the 15th Johor state election March, 10, 2022. — Picture by Hari Anggara
Mandeep stressed that this situation could have been avoided completely if the Election Commission (EC) had allowed Malaysians in Singapore to send their ballots via the high commission there.
“I also must stress that we are not from the Election Commission. This is supposed to be their job,” he said.
On February 11, the groups collectively known as Undi Johor announced plans to transport postal ballots from Singapore to Johor for the state election.
In a statement, they said postal voting procedures should be amended to ensure that Malaysians residing abroad can participate in the election process.
A luggage suitcase containing Malaysians’ ballot papers is pictured at the Larkin Sentral Bus Terminal ahead of the Johor state election March 10, 2022. — Picture by Hari Anggara
“The EC needs to be responsible to make the process of voting easier for voters and not by limiting their registration days and asking voters to mail in their ballots,” it said.
According to the EC, 36,729 postal ballots were issued for the Johor state election.
Johor has 56 state constituencies, with more than 2.59 million voters who are eligible to cast their ballots this time. The EC is targeting a 70 per cent voter turnout.
On February 11, the groups collectively known as Undi Johor announced plans to transport postal ballots from Singapore to Johor for the state election. — Picture by Hari Anggara