The Malaysian Bar - Only taxpayers abroad can vote rule is fair, says Chua

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Only taxpayers abroad can vote rule is fair, says Chua

Thursday, 02 February 2012 09:38am

©The Star (Used by permission)
by TEH ENG HOCK

SHAH ALAM: The proposal by the Election Commission to render overseas Malaysians who are not taxpayers ineligible to vote has received the MCA's support.

Describing it as a “good” proposal, party president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said it would be unfair for them to vote as they would not feel the consequences of their choice.

“No country in the world allows all its overseas voters to vote. All the countries have various conditions. There's no blanket approval,” he said after attending DRB-Hicom's Chinese New Year open house.

He said the American system only allowed a taxpayer to vote. In Taiwan, a voter must have stayed in the country for the last six months before an election.

This, added Dr Chua, was to ensure that overseas voters bear the consequences of their decisions.

“When we are here and we vote, we face the consequences of who we vote for. But when you are overseas, you don't have to face these. You are a Malaysian only in name. That's not fair. You're just an armchair voter,” he said.

Dr Chua also said MCA had no part in Perkasa's Chinese New Year gathering, during which white envelopes were given out instead of red ang pow.

“We want to tell Opposition parties that MCA has 63 years (history of) doing Chinese New Year gatherings. We are aware of what is an ang pow and what is a white piece of paper.

“So, please don't try to link MCA to Perkasa. That's not fair. Do not spin politics until it has no basis,” he said.

By Chinese tradition, money given out in white packets is associated with pak kam (white gold) or donations given at a funeral.

“If Perkasa has integrity, it should apologise,” said Dr Chua.

Dr Chua, who is also a National Economic Council member, said it had re-assessed Malaysia's growth projection for this year from 5% to 4%.

He said this was partly due to the economic slowdown in US and Europe although the Government Transformation Programme had managed to cushion the impact.

“Until two weeks ago, the council was still confident of 5%. But in the latest meeting, we looked at the situation and (came to a conclusion) that we can't reach 5% but a respectable target of 4%,” said Dr Chua, adding that development projects from the programme such as the MRT had enabled the country to still hit 4%.

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