KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 2 — Bersih has slammed as unconstitutional the Election Commission’s (EC) suggestion to bar overseas Malaysians who do not pay taxes from voting, pointing out that many Malaysians here too are not taxpayers.
The electoral reform group noted that those who earn less than RM2,500 a month and many retirees are exempt from paying income tax, and asked if these groups will also be barred from voting in parliamentary and state elections.
EC chairman Tan Sri Aziz Yusof said on Monday that the EC will propose to the parliamentary select committee on electoral reform that overseas Malaysians who do not pay taxes be rendered ineligible as voters.
But only about one million Malaysians out of a total population of 28 million currently pay income tax, according to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Idris Jala.
Bersih today also pointed out that Aziz did not understand income tax laws, noting that the Income Tax Act 1967 states that income derived from sources outside Malaysia and received in Malaysia are exempt from income tax.
“Through the double taxation agreement, the citizen would only pay the taxes in the country where they gain their income,” the group noted in a statement today.
The EC’s proposal was also unconstitutional as it ignores every citizen’s right to vote, even as absent voters, and amounted to an attempt to disenfranchise qualified Malaysians, Bersih also stressed.
It said the EC has only taken on “2½ demands” of the group’s original eight demands, and questioned the commission’s lack of will to implement the recommendations for free and fair elections.
“As the constitutional institution that is supposed to manage electoral processes and uphold the rights of voters, the EC appears to be unwilling to fulfil its constitutional duties. Bersih 2.0 reminds the EC that it is not answerable to any political master but to all citizens of Malaysia.
“If the EC intends to gain the confidence of the people of Malaysia, it must stop hoodwinking the citizens and immediately start taking steps to bring about substantive reform to the electoral system to ensure free and fair elections in Malaysia,” it said.
