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Dear friends,

To help you enforce your rights as a voter, Tindak Malaysia has come up with the below to ensure compliance to the Election Laws so that you are not misinformed and the information you know will give you the confidence to stand up for yourself (at least).

So, please take the time to read and safe this mail for the time when you need to print out the section relevant to bring along with you.

Please forward this to as many people as possible.

If for some reason you see some pencil marks of numbers or markings on the front or back of the Ballot Paper or Kertas Undi other than your own mark, do NOT erase.

Just ask for another Kertas Undi to exchange for the rejected Kertas Undi.

Make sure your rejected Kertas Undi is stamped “BATAL” (cancelled) by the Ketua Tempat Mengundi (“KTM”) {Presiding Officer}.

If the SPR uses special chemically-treated Kertas Undi, rubbing/erasing can cause smudges to the Kertas Undi, thereby renders your Kertas Undi spoilt, causing it to be rejected.

If the KTM refuses to give you a fresh Kertas Undi –– show him the relevant Law & Regulation –– READ below on how to handle this...
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Tips on HOW to protect your vote and the role you can play

The Crucial GE 13... Your Vote is Priceless...

1. Barung (Booth):
As you enter the school, you approach a verification centre known as the Barung (Booth). They will verify that you are a voter in that school and the Barung Clerk will issue you a Slip directing you to the correct polling station (or classroom). This slip has a reference number known as “Bil” (Bilangan or number) at the top corner written by the Barung Clerk.

2. Kerani 1:
As soon as you enter the polling station, you approach Kerani 1 and pass her your Barung Slip, who will check your identity against your Mykad. She will read out your Bil and locate your Name in the SPR Electoral Roll. She will then read out your NRIC number and name from your MyKad (and not from the Electoral Roll). Once verification is made and there are no objections from the PACAs (Polling Agents and Counting Agents), Kerani 1 will pass your MYkad to Kerani 2.

3. Kerani 2:
Here, Kerani 2 will proceed to tear a serialised Ballot Paper (Kertas Undi) from the top of the Ballot Paper Booklet. This procedure will enable your name to be matched to the serial number. Doing so violates the following Election Laws and Regulations:

ELECTIONS ACT 1958 ELECTIONS (CONDUCT OF ELECTIONS) REGULATIONS 1981 CONTESTED ELECTIONS
19. Manner of voting

and, because the SPR staff are bound by their Oath of Secrecy, they also violate:

Election Offences Act 1954, Part II ELECTORAL OFFENCES
5. Maintenance of secrecy at elections,
6. Offences against this Part.

See Appendix below for full details.

You are entitled, under Election Law, in order to protect the secrecy of your vote, to ask for a different Kertas Undi, i.e. from a different page of the same book. Stop the clerk and say: “Encik/Puan, saya minta Kertas Undi dari bawah.” (If they object, show them the APPENDIX that you have brought along. At this point in time, the PACA will also step in to support you.)

Once the issue of the ballot paper is randomized, the secrecy of your vote is assured. (Make sure that Kerani 2 does not try to record your voter Bil on the counterfoil. You will have helped the next voter also as the whole sequence is randomized and cannot be traced) Kerani 2 will hand the Kertas Undi to the next officer, Kerani 3.

4. Kerani 3:
Kerani 3 will use a embossing tool to perforate the ballot paper at the lower left hand corner. Then see that it is folded into half before she hands it to you. Examine the ballot paper to ensure it is clean (free of smudges or writing), perforated properly and has a serial numbrt on the top left hand corner. If any of the 3 conditions are not met, immediately demand for a replacement ballot. Once satisfied, you now proceed to the voting booth.

5. Voting Booth:
Inside the voting booth, mark with an X in the right hand box corresponding to the candidate of your choice. Fold the paper neatly and drop it in the appropriate box (there will be separate boxes for State and Parliament constituencies).

You can read more here: http://www.tindakmalaysia.com/showthread.php/3794-SPR-How-to-protect-the-secrecy-of-your-vote?p=10856#post10856.

Better still, attend our regular Polling Agent, Counting Agent or a Booth Agent (“PACABA”) Training conducted every Saturday at MBPJ 1st Floor, Bilik Bunga Mawar.

Check here for the schedules: https://sites.google.com/site/pacabatraining/

Dear friends,

Remember that the conduct of free and fair elections is not just the responsibility of the SPR (and whoever can trust them to be free and fair), but the responsibility of every voter.

Two other important things that you can do, irrespective of your political inclinations:

1. Get everyone who has not registered as a voter to register immediately. You can do this at any post office. It’s a simple 5 minutes procedure. If necessary, drive the person there and make it happen. Or refer to the FAQ here: http://www.tindakmalaysia.com/showthread.php/1629-Voter-Registration-FAQ or contact the Assistant Voter Registration Officers (ARO) for help. They are based in Selangor and are nice, lovely people:

Jasmine Ng < jasmineng@dosomethingepic.net> –– 016-3177788
Syed Harun < syedsyedharun@gmail.com> –– 016-9786641
2. Volunteer to be a Polling Agent, Counting Agent or a Booth Agent (“PACABA”) for whichever party that you choose to support. Tindak Malaysia is spearheading this training for anyone so that we can ensure that on election day, the process is as fair as humanly possible.

Come for the PACABA training conducted free so that you know why and how... https://sites.google.com/site/pacabatraining/

Please my friends, take the GE13 seriously because the destiny of Malaysia is in your hands.

You hold the authority to decide on who will hold the reins of power in Putrajaya.

Your vote is even more imperative, if the rumours that many Permanent Residents (“PRs”) and Illegal Immigrants have suddenly been given citizenship and the right to vote.

Whether or not that is true, your vote is priceless.

Remember that on election day, in fact after Parliament is dissolved for new elections, there are no opposition parties/ ruling parties anymore. After Parliament is dissolved, there is only a caretaker government, and BN is no longer in power.

So please do not refer to Pakatan Rakyat (“PR”) as an opposition party, or BN as the ruling party anymore from thence. It’s a mindset that has to change, so that we do not relate certain parties being the opposition, even before election day.

"Thoughts have a way of becoming Reality."

Thanks for your attention, and please do send this mail out.

The power is internet and networking is here to be used for good.

APPENDIX: Print this out and bring along to the polling station in case of dispute.


ELECTIONS ACT 1958 ELECTIONS (CONDUCT OF ELECTIONS) REGULATIONS 1981 CONTESTED ELECTIONS

19. Manner of Voting

(1) Each voter shall be given one ballot paper and shall be entitled to one vote.

(2) As each voter applies for a ballot paper, the number and name of the voter as stated, in the electoral roll shall be called out and a mark, without indicating in any way the particular ballot paper to be issued to him, shall be placed in the roll against the number of the voter to denote that he has been issued with a ballot paper.

(3) The ballot paper shall be perforated or stamped with the official mark or initialled by the presiding officer on the margin of the ballot paper and the ballot paper shall then be issued to the voter by the presiding officer or a person acting under his authority.

Election Offences Act 1954, Part II Section 5 –– Maintenance of Secrecy at Elections

(1) Every officer, clerk, interpreter, candidate, agent and any other person (hereinafter in this section referred to as an “authorized person”) authorized to attend any proceedings connected with the issue or receipt of postal ballot papers, or at a polling station, or at the counting of the votes, shall, before so attending make an oath of secrecy substantially in Form A in the First Schedule.

(2) Every officer, clerk, interpreter, candidate, agent and authorized person in attendance at a polling station shall maintain, and aid in maintaining, the secrecy of the voting in such station, and shall not communicate, except for some purpose authorized by law, before the poll is closed, to any person any information as to the name or number on the register of electors of any elector who has or has not applied for a ballot paper or voted at that station, or as to the official mark, but the total number of voters who have voted at any station at any time before the poll is closed may, in the discretion of the presiding officer, be divulged to a candidate or his agent or a police officer authorized to attend or on duty at the polling station.

(3) No such officer, clerk, interpreter, candidate, agent, police officer or authorized person and no person whosoever shall attempt to obtain in the polling station information as to the candidate for whom any voter in such station is about to vote or has voted, or communicate at any time to any person any information obtained in a polling station as to the candidate for whom any voter in such station is about to vote or has voted, or as to the number of the ballot paper given to any voter at such station.

(4) Every officer, clerk, interpreter, candidate, agent, police officer and authorized person, in attendance at the counting of the votes shall maintain, and aid in maintaining, the secrecy of the voting, and shall not attempt to communicate any information obtained at such counting as to the candidate for whom any vote is given by any particular ballot paper.

(5) No person except a presiding officer acting for a purpose authorized by any written law relating to any election or a person authorized by the presiding officer and acting for such purpose as aforesaid, shall communicate or attempt to communicate with any voter after such voter has received a ballot paper and before he has placed the same in a ballot box.

(6) Every person attending any proceedings in connection with the issue or the receipt of ballot papers for persons voting by post shall maintain and aid in maintaining, the secrecy of the voting and shall not without lawful excuse ––

(a) communicate, before the poll is closed, to any person any information obtained at those proceedings as to any official perforation, stamp or mark to be used in connection with any ballot paper;

(b) communicate to any person at any time any information obtained at those proceedings as to the number of the ballot paper sent to any person;

(c) attempt to ascertain at the proceedings in connection with the receipt of ballot papers the number on any ballot paper; or

(d) attempt to ascertain at the proceedings in connection with the receipt of the ballot papers the candidate for whom any vote is given in any particular ballot paper or communicate any information with respect thereto obtained at those proceedings.

(7) Any person who contravenes any of the provisions of this section shall be liable, on conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to a fine not exceeding three thousand ringgit or to both such imprisonment and fine.

Election Offences Act 1954, Part II Section 6 –– Offences against this Part

(1) Every person who abets the commission of or attempts to commit an offence specified in this Part shall be liable, on conviction, to the punishment and disqualifications prescribed for that offence.

(2) Every offence under this Part shall be a seizable offence within the meaning of the Criminal Procedure Code [Act 593].

(3) In a prosecution for an offence in relation to a nomination paper, ballot box, ballot paper or marking instrument at an election, the property in such nomination paper, ballot box, ballot paper or marking instrument, as well as the property in the counterfoil of any ballot paper, may be stated to be in the returning officer at that election.

(4) A prosecution for an offence under this Part shall not be instituted without the sanction of the Public Prosecutor.


Note: Section 6 (4) is a fall-back protection for the SPR staff as no prosecution can be conducted without the sanction of the Public Prosecutor.
That is why sometimes a corrupt SPR Officer will dare to act with impunity, knowing that the system will not allow him to fall.
That is provided there is no change in the Ruling Party.

Source: Tindak Malaysia