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Do you want to know if you are still registered as a voter?
Check your name against the SPR Electoral Roll to make sure it is still there!
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9 May 2017
BERSIH 2.0Verified account @bersih2
Ampang new voters whose registration has been objected to, ready for the hearing 11/5? Read this or call us
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What to do if your registration or change of address is objected to:
1. First, check your voting status update at http://daftarj.spr.gov.my/DAFTARJ/ four to six months after your registration or change of address.
2. If your registration or change of address is objected to, your voting status should say “dalam proses siasatan kerana pemilih dibantah” (being investigated because voter has been objected to). You should also receive a notice by registered post from the EC informing you that a hearing will be held on the matter; usually within a fortnight if the post delivers on time. However, the EC website may not be updated and you may not be alerted that anything is amiss, so it’s best to check your mail box every day.
3. Prepare the documents stated in the notice to show that you live in the address (IC) and that the address is correct (eg. electricity/water bill).
4. Come to the EC office for the hearing at the stated time and date in the notice (failing which, your registration will be cancelled and you will have to register all over again).
5. At the EC office, submit your name to the EC staff. You will be given a queue number. There will be other voters there facing the same predicament. There should also be objectors there.
6. Relax and wait for your turn. When the judge is ready to hear your case, the EC staff will announce you and your objector’s names. The police will let both of you into the hearing room, though you may be going in alone if your objector is not present.
7. The judge will ask you a few questions to verify your claim and then make her/his decision.
8. Upon leaving the room, you will be given a print-out of the case, which has your objector’s name, IC number and phone number. If you are not able to meet your objector face-to-face to demand compensation as per your legal right for the inconvenience caused to you over their wrong objection, call the number listed; insist on cash at hand.
9. Contact the BERSIH 2.0 hotline – 011-1131 3803; hotlinebersih@gmail.com – if you need further clarification.
http://www.bersih.org/what-to-do-if-there-are-objections-to-your-registration-as-a-voter/
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What to do if your registration as a voter has been objected to
The Election Commission is holding another round of hearings on objections to voter registration in Selangor from 17 April 2017 to 11 May at its office in Wisma PKNS, Shah Alam.
This involves those who registered as a new voter or changed their IC address in time to be added to the October to December 2016 supplementary roll, but are facing objections to their registration.
The objection process is a safeguard in the law to ensure a clean electoral roll because once gazetted, the roll cannot be challenged even in court. Political parties are the usual scrutinisers of supplementary rolls, but citizens can also check it wherever it’s displayed (at EC and local council offices) to see whether their neighbourhood has any suspicious new voters and, if yes, lodge an objection with the EC at a fee of RM10. New voters themselves can check that their details are correct if they are unable to access the EC’s website.
Unfortunately, the objection process is being abused by certain parties to disenfranchise new voters in what are expected to be hotly contested seats. Voters should not allow them to get away with this and defend their right to vote!
After our first monitoring on 6 March, BERSIH 2.0 was at the Selangor EC office again on 20 April. A total of 503 voters from Gombak were scheduled to be heard. In the 1.5 hours we spent there, we found that, similar to what was exposed in the first round last month, an estimated 99% of the 100-plus people then who faced objections to their voter registration were Chinese. Most were new voters in Gombak; a few had moved into the constituency.
When we went inside the small office, the reception area wasn’t full yet, with around 30 people inside. Somehow, the objectors, all of whom were Malay, were seated on one side of the room, facing the voters who were objected to on the opposite side, underscoring the racial factor in the objections.
The EC Selangor office on 20 April 2017, which helpfully supplied a table to someone who was handing out RM100 each to voters as compensation for wrongful objection.
For the benefit of those who haven’t been there, here’s a brief description of the room and process. At one corner was a counter where SPR staff sat to handle queries. Next to it was the door to the room in which the objection hearing is held. Interestingly, this time around, there was a cloth-covered table at the other corner of the room, complete with purple skirting; a man who was not an EC staff sat there to hand out the RM100 compensation owed to dubious voters who’ve had their validity confirmed at the hearing.
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http://www.bersih.org/what-to-do-if-there-are-objections-to-your-registration-as-a-voter/
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8 April 2017
FMT News @fmtoday 50 minutes ago
Ong: Umno trying to stop thousands of Chinese from voting
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PETALING JAYA: Ong Kian Ming has accused Umno of having a racial agenda in filing objections to registration of new voters.
Pointing to data obtained from the Election Commission (EC) on the objections made last year, the Serdang MP said Umno are making spurious objections to young people being registered as voters, especially in Selangor.
“From Quarter 1 to Q3 2016, a total of 4,694 objections were received by the EC, out of which 4,427 or 94% were objections filed in Selangor,” Ong said.
He added that an analysis of the objections from Q1 to Q3 2016 in Selangor also shows two distinct trends.
“Firstly, out of the 36 seats which have objections, 30 or 86% were in seats which were contested by Umno in the 2013 general elections.
“Secondly, of the 4427 objections in Selangor, 92.8% were Chinese voters, 5.8% were Indian voters and 1.2% were Malay voters,” he said, adding that the trend continued in the period October to December last year as well.
According to Ong, during the last quarter, the statistics show that a total of 2,550 objections were lodged in Selangor in 24 state seats.
“Out of the 24 state seats, 20 or 83% were seats contested by Umno in the last general election (GE13). Out of the 2,550 voters being objected to, 79.1% were Chinese voters, 6.3% were Indian voters and 14.2% were Malay voters.”
Ong, who is also DAP election strategist, said that the opposition were not against the right to file objections against voters but these objections have to be filed based on solid grounds.
“Our colleagues in Johor filed objections based on investigation that voters were being registered en masse in shop houses and in addresses which they do not live in.
“However, in the case of Selangor, objections were made on spurious grounds such as ‘the address of the voter cannot be found’ or ‘the voter is not known by the local residents” when in fact, the objector has never visited the voter at his or her registered address.”
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11 March 2017
Malay Mail OnlineVerified account @themmailonline 2 hours ago
Bersih: Voter registration challenges open to abuse
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KUALA LUMPUR, March 11 — The Election Commission’s (EC) system to object against dubious registrants can be exploited to disenfranchise new voters, said a polls watchdog group following claims that specific communities were currently being targeted.
Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah pointed out the system was vulnerable to abuse as there is currently no threshold to lodge an objection against new voters beyond plain “suspicion”.
“You just stand in front of the judge and he will ask why are you objecting, and then you say ‘Oh, I think this person is not staying at that address,’” Maria explained, adding no other information beyond that was required.
A complainant only has to pay RM10 to lodge each objection and may file up to 20 such complaints under the Elections (Registration Of Electors) Regulations 2002. None of the complaints need to be accompanied by any form of evidence.
Although the process to strike out unfounded objections is straightforward, it still requires the person flagged as a dubious registrant to take the time and attend the proceedings. Those who do not are struck from the rolls and may not take part in elections until they are restored.
Maria said the authorities should at least perform some rudimentary vetting of the objection filings to ensure those that do reach the Elections Court are of some substance.
“There should be more safeguards to scrutinise this. The regulations need to be tightened,” she told Malay Mail Online.
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9 March 2017
[READ] The story of Jack and his experience at his voter objection hearing: http://bit.ly/2n20Hgq
*Dubious protest against my voter registration and unable to obtain compensation*
My name is Jack and I am a first-time voter in the P105 PJS Parliament Seat and N33 Taman Medan DUN that registered a few months ago.
On the 13th February 2017, I received a letter from the Election Commission of Malaysia (Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya Malaysia), specifically from the Pejabat Pilihan Raya Negeri Selangor. The letter was titled “NOTIS BANTAHAN KE ATAS RANG DAFTAR PEMILIH TAMBAHAN ST 3/2016”.
The letter stated that someone raised an objection against my voter registration and I have to make myself available on 6th March 2017 for a public investigation (siasatan awam) in the SPR Selangor Office. The letter clearly stated that if I failed to turn up, my name would be or might be struck off the voter list (Rang Daftar Pemilih Tambahan).
According to the letter, the reason for the objection was “Pemilih Diragui” and no further details were given.
*The day of the investigation*
As summoned, I made myself available and skipped my university classes to attend the public investigation with my sister accompanying me in the SPR Selangor office. Upon arrival, I registered my attendance in the front desk of the office and handed over supporting documents such as utility bill, birth certificate and the copy of the Borang A voter registration form. After a few moments, I was called into the Bilik Bicara SPR and swore an oath to tell the truth to the best of my abilities in front of a Judge and the person who protested against me (pembantah). I was asked questions such as my area of residence, mother’s name. The judge crossed check with his documents and declared that SPR has no reason to strike off my name in the voter list. He then ordered the pembantah (a female lady) to pay me RM100 as compensation as her objection caused me inconvenience.
After that, I went out of the room and proceeded to sign my signature to complete the investigation process. I caught up with the pembantah and asked her to pay me the compensation of RM100 as stated in the documents and by the judge. To my surprise, she told me that she is not the one who should pay me and that “someone” would contact me after 3 months when it is confirmed that I am in the voter list. As it sounded suspicious, I proceeded to ask her how would the “someone” contact me when I have not given out my personal details and who is the “someone”. She told me not to worry and that “pejabat akan settle” and that “bukan mak cik yang bayar”.
I pressed her for more details and the reason for her protest against me but she proceeded to say “mak cik bantah untuk pastikan kamu memang duduk kat rumah”, but contradicted herself a few moments later by saying “bukan mak cik yang bantah you, pejabat yang suruh mak cik bantah”. As the statements were contradictory, I asked her whether she was referring to SPR as the “pejabat”. She denied that it was SPR and said “mak cik pun tak tau siapa” and that I shouldn’t worry and ask so much.
As she was telling me not to worry and ask, a woman approached us and told her that we have the right to know who was the supposed pejabat and how we would get our money back. The woman later identified as Ivy Josiah and took out her phone to record our conversation. Immediately after that, a man appeared and struck down her phone, telling us that he is from “jaringan Melayu” and warned us not to record anything.
As I did not know who they were, I focused on the female pembantah and told her that we should consult the SPR officers inside whether she should pay me or someone else would pay me. She agreed and we went inside. I asked the lady officer in the front desk whether the pembantah would personally pay me, and she confirmed that “pembantah akan bayar. Sila settle sendiri”. With that as evidence, I confronted the pembantah again and she still refused to pay the RM100 compensation by repeating her statements like “bukan mak cik bayar”. I then asked her for the phone number of the “pejabat” and she told me that the number is in the letter that I received. I handed her the letter and she pointed at the SPR Office’s phone number, which contradicted her earlier statements when she said SPR was not the office she mentioned. When I pointed that out, she ignored any of my questions and tried to look away.
As she was persistent in denying my compensation, me and my sister questioned whether she even knew where I lived to protest against my registration. She then took out a paper, which I glanced at as a list of many voters registered in the PJS area due to the fact that my personal details (address, name, IC) as well as many others were on the list. She asked for my name which I gave her. She then said she knew where I live and went personally to my house, to which my sister replied by asking her how she managed to get through the gated and guarded residence. She said that the guards did not know anything and she said “I bukan jumpa you seorang, ramai lagi kita jumpa kat dalam”.
Immediately, a man approached us from behind and accused us of provoking them and questioned why didn’t I ask the judge inside the room about these issues. I replied that the judge called us to settle ourselves and that the pembantah should pay me herself. The man repeated his statements in English and said “until when do you want to provoke us” and “why not you ask SPR who should pay”, which I told him SPR clearly said pembantah should pay. As we were getting nowhere, we requested for a photograph of her IC (MyKad) which she refused and she told us “you ingat you siapa?” They then ignored us and any of our questions and we had no choice but to leave the office.
In the end, I did not receive my RM100 compensation as I was supposed to and no one has contacted me regarding my compensation.
All of the above is truthful to my knowledge and to the best of my abilities.
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8 March 2017
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Action to prevent voter registration stuns Bersih
PETALING JAYA: Electoral watchdog Bersih 2.0 has alleged that there are efforts by certain irresponsible quarters to prevent individuals from registering as new voters ahead of the 14th general election.
Its chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah said this was being done by exploiting a provision in the Elections (Registration of Electors) Regulations 2002 that allows for objections to be made against a person newly registering as voter.
She pointed to an incident on Monday where a Bersih 2.0 monitoring team saw several dubious filings of objections by a group that was apparently being directed by an “agency”.
“The objection provision in the regulations is in place to weed out phantom voters,” Maria explained at a press conference here today.
“But unfortunately, the recent trend in objections may give rise to a misperception that there is a conscious effort to block new voters from registering.”
She said once an objection is filed on someone registering as a voter, the person would have to be present at the Electoral Commission’s (EC) office for an inquiry and show evidence that he or she is a legitimate voter in the constituency.
When the individual is proven to be genuine, the one who filed the objection is then obliged to compensate RM100 to the registering voter.
Maria said the Bersih 2.0 team had spent two hours at the EC’s office in Shah Alam on Monday to monitor the process of the objections.
She said they witnessed a suspicious group filing objections based on instructions given by an “agency”.
“A group of men and women who acted as objectors were being instructed by a single person,” she said. “
“A voter asked the objector when the compensation would be paid. The objector said she will be paid within three months by an ‘agency’.”
Activist Ivy Josiah who was present with the team attempted to take a picture of the exchange but had her phone snatched away by a man.
“That man, aged around 30 to 35, grabbed my phone and I was stunned. He told me that I cannot take pictures,” Ivy said.
“I then told him that I was from an NGO that’s looking at electoral reform and we have the right to be here. So I grabbed my phone back.
“He turned around and said: ‘Do you know who I am? I’m from ‘Jaringan Melayu’. Then I said ‘I’m from ‘Jaringan Malaysia’. It then ended there.”
Maria said the EC had a duty to ensure legitimate voters are registered and to prevent abuse of the electoral process.
She pointed out that there is no accountability to ensure the RM100 was compensated to bona fide voters who were affected.
“What are the enforcement mechanisms to ensure that the RM100 fines are paid? If there are 100 objections being rejected every day, this could amount up to RM10,000 in fines per day.
“In fact, this is not the first time we encountered this issue. As far as we know, it has been going on for two years.
“The same issue was raised by DAP MP Ong Kian Ming in 2015 and we had also received similar complaints that year.”
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Malay Mail OnlineVerified account @themmailonline
Some Chinese claim blocked from registering as voters
KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 — A few Chinese Malaysians have complained that they encountered objections against their registration as voters ahead of the next general election.
Such objections meant that they would have to attend Election Commission (EC) interviews at its office to prove that they are legal and eligible voters, failing which their registration as voters would be cancelled.
Elaine Lee, who posted a photo of several Chinese Malaysians flocking the EC office in Shah Alam on her Facebook page, said she had accompanied her 26-year-old boyfriend to the EC’s office after he received a letter that said his application to be a voter had been rejected.
Lee claimed that the office at the PKNS building was packed with both Malays and Chinese people when they arrived at about 11.15am Monday.
“But the Malays were there as the ‘pembantah’ (objectors) to the cases they filed against the ethnic Chinese,” she told Malay Mail Online when contacted.
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Lee said she was also unsure of the objector’s whereabouts, further alleging that each objector had objected to multiple voters’ registrations.
She, however, added that most of the voters’ registrations were approved after the EC officers found insufficient evidence for the claims made by those who rejected the applications.
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Another person, See Zhi Peng, also claimed a similar predicament at the EC’s office that morning.
“If I remember correctly, yes…old and young (mostly Chinese people) and the Malays who were sitting outside were the ‘pembantah’ (objectors).
“But this is my assumption because I didn’t go and ask them one by one whether they are the objectors,” the chambering student said.
When contacted, Bersih 2.0 head Maria Chin Abdullah said her electoral reform group has received many such complaints.
“But I don’t think one can conclusively say the Malays objected the Chinese… maybe that day, there were more Chinese applicants,” Maria said.
When asked if these applicants come from federal Opposition-held areas, she said complaints Bersih received came nationwide and were not limited to any particular constituency.
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7 March 2017
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Please get this viral. Show how crooked SPR is!
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The IvyGram @ivyjosiah 20 hours ago
Objectors did turn up, appear to be organised. No assurance they will be compelled to give RM100 as compensation to newly registered voters
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The IvyGram @ivyjosiah 23 hours ago
She is from SriGombak, 1 hour drive to SPR Shah Alam 2 find out why an objection to her voter registration @bersih2
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The IvyGram @ivyjosiah 23 hours ago
This young man on the right took the trouble to come to SPR Shah Alam to prove he is a legitimate voter. @bersih2
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BERSIH 2.0Verified account @bersih2 21 hours ago
Start your week off on a good note by registering yourself as a voter. #KempenU #UCampaign #UNDI
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The IvyGram @ivyjosiah 24 hours ago
SPR official says at least 100 voters turn up to find out why there is a bantahan/ protest agst their registration. @bersih2 #RightToVote
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Dear Perakians, look out for the next voters registration drive in your neighbourhood after the #Undi campaign launch! Sign up quick!
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weehingthong 