No request to Singapore PM on Johor polls, says Anwar

PETALING JAYA: Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim says he has no plans to contact his Singaporean counterpart, Lawrence Wong, to request that Malaysians be given the flexibility to return home to vote at the Johor election this Saturday.

“Our relationship with Singapore is very good, and this helps develop both countries,” he said during Minister’s Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat today.

“But I generally do not ask other countries to interfere in Malaysia’s affairs, including voting in our country.”

Anwar was responding to a supplementary question from Sany Hamzan (PH-Hulu Langat) on whether he would contact his Singaporean counterpart to allow Malaysians in the republic to return home to vote at the state election.

Anwar said the Election Commission (EC), as an independent body, had the authority to decide on key election dates, which he did not want to interfere with.

However, he said his personal view was that polling should be held on a Sunday as it would allow more voters to fulfil their civic responsibility.

“I believe the EC, as an independent body, should be more thorough in ensuring that elections follow democratic principles, with sufficient time and a polling day that can encourage people to return to vote.

“Many people work in Singapore, and some work half a day on Saturdays. So ideally, it should be on a Sunday … But the decision was made to hold it on Saturday.

“The EC is an independent body … and that is its decision. But personally, I don’t agree with it as I believe everything possible should be done to encourage more Malaysians to come out and vote.”