Bersih has urged the Election Commission and Putrajaya to implement reforms to allow East Malaysians to vote from Peninsular Malaysia and vice-versa.

The electoral reforms pressure group said there was an urgent need to undertake such reforms and that it was recommended by the Parliamentary Select Committee on Electoral Reform in 2011.

The group estimates that there are more than 150,000 registered voters from Sabah and Sarawak who are currently residing in Peninsular Malaysia.

"Each election, these voters must spend hundreds of ringgit and find time to make the journey back to their home constituencies in order to vote.

"These difficulties result in lower voter turnout and the effective disenfranchisement of a large number of voters.

"In fact, voter turnout in Sabah and Sarawak during last general election was lower than the rest of the country," said the group.

Bersih said this as part of the launch of its "Make Voting Easier" online petition at the NGO's headquarters in Petaling Jaya today. 

At the launch today, four East Malaysians currently residing and working in Peninsular Malaysia said they were disenfranchised by the present system.

Kumbang Samat said he has not returned to Sarawak to vote since he moved to Kuala Lumpur in 1998.

"Often, the polling day is only announced one month before (so we can’t plan ahead). And it costs a lot to fly back.

"That's why my family - my wife and our three children - prioritise festive seasons like Hari Gawai and Chinese New Year to go back," he said.

Advance voting

During the last general election, army, police, EC, media personnel and civil servants tasked with facilitating elections were allowed to cast "advance votes" five days before the official polling day.

Bersih leader Maria Chin Abdullah suggested that the EC extends this option to East Malaysians, where votes would be cast and counted one day before the official polling day, rather than five days prior.

"By voting one day before, you cut out the need to store, transfer or guard ballot boxes.

"It will become a more transparent and accountable process," Maria said.

She also referred to the EC's recent announcement that it was working on a solution to enable voters working in emergency services to cast their votes in time.

"If he (EC chairperson Mohd Hashim Abdullah) can arrange that for emergency services personnel, he can arrange it for Sabahans and Sarawakians working in the peninsula," Maria added.