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FACULTY OF ADMINISTRATIVE SCIENCE AND POLICY STUDIES

DIPLOMA OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION (AM110) GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS (PAD240) GROUP ASSIGNMENT: DISCUSS THE FUNCTIONS OF ELECTION COMMISSION IN MALAYSIA. PREPARED BY: 1. HANI SABRINA BINTI AHMAD HISHAM (2019266638) 2. ROSNANI BINTI AHMAD (2019250704) 3. SITI NASUHA BINTI ROSLAN (2019265236)

PREPARED FOR: SIR AKMAL HISHAM BIN ABDUL RAHIM

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Table of Contents

Contents 1.0

INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 3

1.1 PROCESS THAT INVOLVE IN ELECTION .................................................................. 4 1.2 MALAYSIAN ELECTION ............................................................................................... 5 2.0 FUNCTION OF ELECTION COMMISION .................................................................... 6 2.1 CONDUCT ELECTION .................................................................................................... 6 2.2 PREPARE AND REVISE ELECTROLL ROLL .............................................................. 8 2.3 REVIEW THE DIVISION OF THE FEDERAL AND STATE CONSTITUENCES ...... 9 2.4 MAKE RULES ................................................................................................................ 10 3.0

ISSUES RELATED TO THE MALAYSIAN ELECTION COMMISSION. ................ 12

4.0 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................ 13 5.0 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................ 14

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1.0

INTRODUCTION

The election is a formal and structured preference for an elected office or other position by a person's vote. The election often involves the election operation or the reality of being elected. Election from S.S. Islam and A.R. Moten is a structured mechanism in which citizens select a person to represent them in national or state legislatures in a place of public interest, such as a presidency, or a community of people. An election is a formal decision-making procedure of a group in which a population selects a person or several candidates to hold public office. Elections were the normal method by which modern parliamentary democracy was portrayed. In the legislature, often in the executive and judiciary, and for regional and local government, elections may fill offices. In several other private and corporate organizations, from clubs to charitable associations and companies, this method is still used. The universal use of elections to pick members as a mechanism.

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1.1

PROCESS THAT INVOLVE IN ELECTION

There are four process that involves in elections which first is the act of selecting someone or something which as voter’s selection is all about selecting electors from among many options to make a greatest decision. Second process is the exercise of deliberate choice where is a particular form of procedure that is purposeful and structured is referred to. Although routine practice can entail mindless repetitions, concentrated attention is required for intentional practice which is performed with the clear objective of enhancing results. Next is casting votes to select the winner of a position or political office. In casting votes, this must be done fairly and count all the votes correctly in order to avoid the occurrence of miscalculation of votes which can affect the final result of the vote. The last process in elections is it can be held in many settings from students’ unions to corporate office or national polls because elections are general and can be applied in all organizations to appoint someone who is supposed to hold a position.

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1.2

MALAYSIAN ELECTION

Elections in Malaysia require public service elections for government bodies that have been part of the Malaysian federation since 1963. In Malaysia, there are two kinds of elections which is general elections and by-elections. Elections in Malaysia actually occur at two levels which is the federal and the state level. Elections at the federal level are those for membership in the lower house of Parliament, Dewan Rakyat, whereas state-level elections are for membership in the different legislative bodies of the state. The heads of the executive branch, the Prime Minister and Menteri Besar or Chief Ministers, are indirectly elected at both the federal and state levels, usually filled in the respective legislatures by a member of the majority party. Elections in Malaysia are conducted only once every five years to elect a new government to lead the Malaysian government. Election in Malaysia is conduct by SPR (Penjalan Pilihan Raya) where is SPR organization will manage the polling stations in each constituency and always ensure that the voting process is carried out smoothly and with full justice the voting process.

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2.0 2.1

FUNCTION OF ELECTION COMMISION CONDUCT ELECTION

According to the existing laws and regulation which is Conduct of Election in Regulations 1981, election in Malaysia is conducted by the Election Commission. The commission's conduct of election is seemly going smoothly eventhough there are often complaints. Despite all the complaints, it shows plenty of room for improvement. The complaints from opposition parties are usually will be dismissses by Election Commission if it is baseless. However, not all the implementation of the Election Commission as it did, the laws and regulations governing such conduct is the main problem. Even the commission's application of the rules, as we shall see is not free for controversy. These election law and regulations as well other laws and practices tend to be with the side of ruling party at various level. Also, to be a lasting resources opposition complaint. More mute criticism is sometimes heard from the Election Commission. Except for the first post-independence election in 1959, the parliamentary election and the state legislature in Peninsular Malaysia was held simultaneously with the state elections held for Sabah and Sarawak. The constitution provides that ‘general elections shall be held in 60 days from the date of the dissolution of parliament. During this period, The Election Commission sets the nomination day, followed by the official period on campaign before polling day. Minimum campaign period provided in Commission rules were reduced from 21 to 14 days in 1971 and became seven days in 1986. In actual practice, the duration of the campaign has been progressively reduced from the normal 35 days before 1970 to nine or ten days since the 1986 election. This shortens the campaign period by The Commission, apparently for the sake of peace, was held to cripple the opposition party is more than the ruling party, whose leaders have many opportunities to communicate with and convince voters in other ways before the start of the official campaign. In the election campaign, the opposition is hamstrung and less fortunate by government restrictions and government practices. Since 1978, public gatherings are open, the cheapest and the most effective method of campaigning and therefore the most trusted by opposition has been banned. The main campaign method currently in use is media coverage and advertising, in house meetings or talks and house to house inspections. Media which is print and electronic in general not available and also unprofitable to the opposition because of the coalition government ownership, government control and self-censorship of the media. The talks which are only accessible to a limited audience also require police permission. To make matters 6|P age

worse, legal regulations are not always applied equally or evenly all parties. For example, opposition parties generally face more difficulties or barriers in obtaining police permission to hold talks. In fact, the voting procedure is such that it can technically be known about the vote every voter. This is because of the ballot paper and counterfoil from where the isolated has the same serial number and the selector serial number itself who joins his name in the electoral roll is also written in counterfoil which is matching the ballot paper used with the counterfoil will be provided voter serial number for knowing his or her identity in the voter register. However, the Election Commission clarifies that the identity of the voter is possible should be ascertained if there is a trial process and will only be done based on the order election judges and the absence of its abuse have generally reduced public fear. Ballot counting is also a problem with the changes introduced in election 1990. For that election, the government amended the Elections Act and the Election Offenses Act to enable votes to be counted at the polling place rather than at the central counting center in each area. Voting the station is a subdivision of the voting district which in turn is a division of a election area. After changing the rules, Elections Commission increased the number of polling stations so that each could fill maximum 700 voters only. Therefore, it can be known which party voters at certain polling stations have voted. Opposition parties retained that, given the small number of voters at each polling station and this can only be done making voters afraid to vote for the opposition for fear of retaliation by the ruling party.

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2.2

PREPARE AND REVISE ELECTROLL ROLL

The main task in preparing the voter list is including the annual newly qualified voter registration, voter register review, public inspection of the revised rolls and its certification by the Commission, is governed by the Election (Voter Registration) Regulations 1971, There are three separate but similar sets for Sabah, Sarawak and the Peninsula Malaysia. Commission performance of this function has been supported by criticism for the ongoing inaccuracies involving both ‘lost’ and ‘Ghost’ voters. The first is a qualified and registered person whose name missing from the election role while the latter is not qualified people who successfully register and place themselves on the voter list. In a few years, the number involved is quite large. For example, a team of Commonwealth officials observing the 1990 election considers this issue serious enough to raise it with the Election Commission chief and secretary, who admitted that they were aware of the situation and that the difference affects about 300,000 voters or nearly 4 percent voters. The main cause of missing voters is errors in checking or updating voter list. The process is done by secretary of the Election Commission, as chief registrar, has the power to correct clerical offenses and mispronounce and to delete the name of the person who died. The person whose name is wrongly removed or removed from the electoral roll will not be able to vote on polling day. A large number of such cases occurred in 1974 elections in Peninsular Malaysia. As a result, more than 300000 people were cast as voters after 1972/73. Many of them were wrong as discovered in 1974 election. Moreover, they who be removed mostly non-Malays, as the Malay voters increased from 55.7 to 57.9 percent and the number is Chinese voters dropped from 36.3 to 34.5 between 1969 and 1974 elections. Another form of relics arises because the Commission usually takes months to place a new register voter in a verified list. In the last election in November 1999, 680000 voter candidates who have registered in April or May are thus deprived vote. These young voters accounted for 7.26 per cent of the 9.37 million certified voters, are widely expected to vote for the opposition if they have great potential. The problem of ghost voters has received attention in recent elections especially but not only in the state of Sabah, where the main opposition party, Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS or Parti Bersatu Sabah) considers it a major factor working to its detriment. This problem is mainly caused by false use identity card for registration, double registration and registration of nonresidents using fake addresses. For example, when a political party moves it supporters to the

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constituency from a safe area. Election Commission argues correctly that fake identity card problems can only occur settled by the National Registration Department. However, it is widely believed not without reason that higher perseverance by the Commission can help reduce this as well as other ghost voter resources. For example, in June 2001, an election court annulled the 1999 election in the state constituency of Likas in Sabah because of the presence of phantom voters on its electoral roll. This decision received wide publicity, no doubt also because of the judge’s revelation that an attempt was made to influence his handling of the case. The government announced steps to tighten national registration to alleviate the problem. It also agreed to introduce year-round registration instead of the present one to two months registration period each year. It is not clear how year-round registration would help solve the phantom problem. Notwithstanding, it would speed up the incorporation of new registrants in the affirmed appointive rolls.

2.3

REVIEW

THE

DIVISION

OF

THE

FEDERAL

AND

STATE

CONSTITUENCES State governance is divided between the federal government and the state government. The federal territory is directly administered by the federal government. The Ninth Schedule of the Malaysian Constitution listed the specific responsibilities of the federal and state governments. Theoretically, everything that is not stated in the Ninth Schedule can be legislated by each country. However, legal scholars generally regard this as the inheritance of the poor because of the large scope of the matters listed in the Ninth Schedule. The courts themselves generally prefer a broad interpretation of the language of the Ninth Schedule, thus limiting the number of subjects that may not be covered. The Ninth Schedule specifically lists the following as matters that can only be legislated by the state which is land ownership, Islam, and district government. Each state has a unicameral legislature called the State Legislative Assembly. Members are elected from a single constituency based on the population. The state leaders of the majority parties in the DUN are usually appointed as Chief Ministers by the King or Governor. The term of the DUN members is five years unless the house is dissolved earlier by the King or Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister. The state constituencies in Peninsular Malaysia are dissolved in conjunction with the dissolution of the federal parliament. Therefore, that state elections run concurrently with parliamentary elections. However, the King and Governor 9|P age

have discretionary power in rejecting the agreement to dissolve the DUN. Each state sends two senators elected by the DUN to the Dewan Negara Senate, the high council of the federal parliament. The Parliament of Malaysia is allowed to legislate on land issues, Islam and district governments to establish uniform laws between different states or at the request of the relevant state legislatures. Except in matters related to land law, the law must also be ratified by the DUN. For the purpose of complying with the obligations of the Malaysian agreement, nonMuslim issues under state jurisdiction can also be legislated at the federal level. Each state is then divided into districts, which are then divided into ‘mukim’. While in Sabah and Sarawak districts are grouped into ‘Divisions’. 3 federal territories are formed for different purposes which is Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan. Kuala Lumpur is the capital, Putrajaya is the administrative center of the federal government and Labuan serves as an offshore financial center. Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya were carved from Selangor while Labuan was handed over by Sabah. These territories are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Federal Territories and the Parliament of Malaysia makes legislation on all matters relating to those territories. Each federal territory elects’ representatives from a single member constituency which is taken based on population to the House of Representatives of Parliament. The Yang di-Pertuan Agong appoints senators to represent the provinces in the Senate. Kuala Lumpur has two senators while Putrajaya and Labuan each have one senator.

2.4

MAKE RULES

Laws made by Parliament are called Statutes or Acts. Laws begin with a Bill which is motion or draft Law. The Bill can come from the Ministry or a member of Parliament (MP) or Senator. The Bill needs to be introduced in Parliament which has been called as presenting the Bill. The first Bill can be tabled before the Dewan Rakyat or Dewan Negara. Once the Bill is tabled in one House, it must be tabled in another House. Bills related mainly to money such as taxes and using money from the Joint Fund must be tabled by the Cabinet Minister and must be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat first which called as Money Bill. Under the Standing Order, the Bill goes through three readings in each House. The First Reading is the Minister or Member of Parliament proposing the Bill to introduce it. In practice, 10 | P a g e

there is no actual reading of the Bill and it is assumed that everyone has read the Bill. While on the Second Reading, The House of Representatives discusses and debates the Bill. This is where other MPs can ask for clarification on the bill, propose amendments to the bill or oppose the bill. Next, on the Third Reading, The Minister or Member of Parliament proposing the Bill submits the Bill for a vote. If more than half of the MPs present and voting or two-thirds of the total number of MPs in a particular case agree with the bill, then the bill will be Ratified. The Bill was then sent to the Senate where three readings also took place. If the Bill is approved, it will be submitted to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong for approval, which must be given within 30 days. The king's approval is called the king's agreement. If he does not give consent within 30 days, the Bill will then automatically become law. Some types of Bills require consent or other bodies before they can become law. The Bill that has been proposed and approved by the Dewan Rakyat will remain law even if the Dewan Negara does not approve the Bill. For Money, the Dewan Rakyat can submit the Bill to the Agong to get the king's approval if the Dewan Negara does not approve the Bill within one month after the bill is tabled. For Non-Money Bills, if the Senate does not pass this Bill the first time it is tabled, the House of Representatives can approve the Bill again and send it to the Senate for approval after one year. This time, if the Senate does not approve the bill within one month after it is tabled, the House of Representatives can submit the bill to the king to get the king's approval. The bill proposed and approved by the Dewan Negara cannot be a law unless approved by the Dewan Rakyat. All Bills must be passed by the House of Representatives to become law. In every parliamentary session, there is a Question Time every day when MPs and Senators can ask Ministers and civil servants. During Question Time, Members of Parliament and Senators can raise public concerns and ask for clarification on Government actions and the implementation of government ministries and departments. In the Dewan Rakyat, Members of Parliament can also ask for the Speaker's permission to debate matters that are important to the community. If permission is given and the matter is debated, the Dewan Rakyat can issue a ruling to the Government to take action on the matter.

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3.0

ISSUES RELATED TO THE MALAYSIAN ELECTION COMMIS...