Undi18 launches Ops Undi Johor to help out of state voters to participate in the coming election

KUALA LUMPUR – The Undi18 movement has launched a new electoral initiative to help facilitate the voting process for the upcoming Johor state election.

Dubbed the Ops Undi Johor, the movement aims to help out-of-state voters participate in the state’s most crucial democratic process.

Undi18 movement’s co-founder Tharma Pillai said the initiatives now aims at two aspects, namely facilitating postal votes for Johor voters working in Singapore and establishing the Pulang Mengundi (return to vote) fund, as means to subsidise the transportation cost for those wishing to return to the southern state to cast their ballot come March 12.

Tharma said the initiative was launched after the movement’s demands to the Election Commission (EC) that was made on Feb 8, were not met.

Previously, Undi18 had demanded the EC to aid voters to return to vote, to establish overseas polling centres, to enable early campus votings for students and enable postal voting for Johoreans in Sabah and Sarawak.

“What we notice are clear issues and problems that we have seen in previous elections, whether it was Sabah, Melaka or Sarawak. There is a much lower voter turnout.

“For example, it was difficult for some people to travel to vote and it is expensive if you want to be part of the process. These are all barriers to the democratic process.

“So we have proposed a number of reforms to EC but there has been no response and there has been no attempt to amend or reform the electoral laws especially. This is not the first election during the pandemic but the fourth major election and there has been no change in the system.

“So we come out with these initiatives to help facilitate the democratic process for Malaysians who wish to vote,’’ he said during a press conference at the Kuala Lumpur Chinese Assembly Hall today.

Tharma then pointed out that there are 200,000 Malaysians in Singapore and the movement is taking steps to help eligible voters in the Island republic register for postal voting before the deadline on Feb 18.

The implementation of Undi18 and automatic voter registration will see around 750,000 new voters in Johor.

The EC has announced recently that Johor will go to the polls on March 12, while nomination will be on Feb 26 and early voting on March 8.

The standard operating procedure for the Johor state elections has yet to be announced.