Gerakan has urged the Election Commission to introduce comprehensive amendments to the election laws in Malaysia in tune with changing times and needs of the nation.

Gerakan vice-president Datuk Mah Siew Keong said the amendments should include implementing automatic voter registration to enable the five million Malaysians who are not on the electoral roll to vote.

“There is no need to waste public fund to have campaigns to register voters. The automatic voter registration will encompass every Malaysian citizen upon reaching 21 years’ old to become voters,” Mah said in a statement.

“Certainly, the EC should scrap its intention to introduce proxy voting as a means to allow voters to exercise their right to vote. In fact, such a system can be subjected to abuse and can create a lot of implementation problems,” Mah added.

Mah believed that proxy voting could lead to accusation of vote selling and buying and create perception of foul play. Voting on choice of candidate should be a secret, he said.

On Sunday, it was reported that the EC was studying the possibility of proxy voting. Commission chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said the proposal was part of the commission’s efforts to provide opportunities for voters to exercise their right to vote.

Mah said the last time the EC proposed comprehensive amendments to election laws in Malaysia was in 2002.

“As such it has been a long time and now is the time to study amendments to increase voters turnout above the national average of 75%,” he said.

Mah said that currently several political parties are involved in the open system of registering voters but many potential voters have still not registered. “Also, this system can be abused as political parties may only register those they think are their supporters.”