MPU 3173: MALAYSIAN STUDIES 3

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT

TITLE: Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya Malaysia (SPRM)

STUDENTS NAME: Bekezhan Beket

STUDENT ID: B0470

COURSE: Finance and Accounting

SIGNATURE:

LECTURER: MS. SITI MARIA MOHAMAD\

DATE OF SUBMISSION: 29.04.2020

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 Table of the Contents

INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................2
ARTICLE 114 OF FEDERAL CONSTITUTION................................................................3
THE PROCESS OF ELECTION IN MALAYSIA...............................................................5
MALAYSIAN GENERAL ELECTION 1955.......................................................................8
MALAYSIAN GENERAL ELECTION 2018.....................................................................10
CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................................12
REFERENCE.........................................................................................................................12

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 Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya Malaysia (SPRM)

INTRODUCTION

Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya Malaysia (Malay) in English means The Election Commission of

Malaysia, which can abbreviate as SPR or EC. The Election Commission of Malaysia was

founded in 1957 4th of September. It was formed under Article 114 of the constitution of

Malaysia. Article 114 stated that “The Election Commission shall be appointed by the Yang

di-Pertuan Agong after consultation with the Conference of Rulers, and shall consist of a

chairman, a deputy chairman, and five other members.” In short, Article 114 has empowered

it to elections for the Dewan Rakyat and state legislative bodies. The purpose of forming the

Election Commission of Malaysia is to ensure a fair and equitable vote in Malaysia General

Elections. The Election Commission of Malaysia was established, and it is mandated by the

executive order of Malaysia Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohammad. The Election

Commission is managed under purview of the Prime Minister’s Department. The Motto of

the Election Commission is “Cekap dan Telus,” which can be translated as “Efficient and

Transparent” of election operations. The Election Commission Headquarters is located in

Putrajaya., According to 2017, the total number of employees is 755. The annual budget for

2017 is RM (Ringgit Malaysia) is 48,634,000. The Agency executives of the election

commission is Datuk Azhar Azizan. Art Harun is Chairman. Dr. Aziz Sharom is Deputy

chairman. Mohamed Elias Abu Bakar is secretary. For the past six decades, there were nine

chairmen of the Elections Commission. The core duty of the election commission is to

perform a fair and transparent election process.

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The List of Chairmen of The Election Commission

No. Chairmen Start the duty End of duty Time in duty

Mustapha 4 September 15 October
1 10 years,
Albakri Hassan 1957 1967
16 October
2 Ahmad Perang 9 August 1977 9 years,
1967
Abdul Kadir 11 October
3 10 August 1977 13 years,
Talib 1990
12 October
4 Harun Din 20 June 1999 8 years,
1990
Omar Mohd 11 November
5 21 June 1999 1 year,
Hashim 2000
Abdul Rashid 12 November 30 December
6 8 years,
Abdul Rahman 2000 2008
Abdul Aziz 31 December 24 January
7 7 years,
Mohd Yusof 2008 2016
Mohamad
24 January
8 Hashim 30 June 2018 2 years,
2016
Abdullah
Azhar "Art" 21 September
9 Incumbent 1 year,
Azizan Harun 2018

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Figure 1: Malaysian general election sign

ARTICLE 114 OF FEDERAL CONSTITUTION

Before Yang di-Peruan Agong appointing members of the election commission, the candidate

have regard to the importance of securing an Election Commission who gain public

confidence. The member of the election commission must withdraw his or her position after

reaching the age of sixty-five or member can disqualify if member undercharges Article 114

Clouse (4). Before members retire post from the election commission, the member must

appoint Yang di-Peruan Agong through sending a letter. Yang di-Peruan Agong can

disqualify officer of the election commission if the officer is an undischarged bankrupt, and

engaged in paid office and exercise his duty outside of the office. Finally, authority can not

participate in the House of Parliament and Legislative Assembly of a State.

In addition article 114 has added that to any disqualification provided under Clause (4), the

chairman of the Election Commission shall be disqualified from holding such office if after

three months of his appointment to such office or at any time thereafter he is or

becomes a member of any board of directors or board of management, or an officer

or employee, or engages in the affairs of business, of any organization or body,

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whether corporate or otherwise, or of any commercial, industrial or other undertaking,

whether or not he receives any remuneration, reward, profit or benefit from it:

Provided that such disqualification shall not apply where such organization or body

carries out any welfare or voluntary work or objective beneficial to the community or

any part thereof, or any other work or objective of a charitable or social nature, and

the member does not receive any remuneration, reward, profit or benefit from it.

Clause (5) has stated that Parliament shall by law provide for the remuneration of members of

the Election Commission, and the remuneration so provided shall be charged on the

Consolidated Fund. Furthermore Clouse (5A) give additional explanation that Subject to the

provisions of this Article, Parliament may by law provide for the terms of office of

members of the Election Commission other than their remuneration. The next Clause

stated that the remuneration and other terms of office of a member of the Election

Commission shall not be altered to his disadvantage after his appointment. In the last during

any period, the chairman of the Election Commission has been granted leave of

absence by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong or is unable, owing to his absence from the

Federation, illness or any other cause, to discharge his functions, the deputy chairman shall

discharge the functions of the chairman during that period, and if the deputy chairman is

also absent or unable to discharge such functions, a member of the Election

Commission may be appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to discharge the

functions of the chairman during that period.

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THE PROCESS OF ELECTION IN MALAYSIA

Nomination Day

Nomination day refers to the day that is set by the Election Commission for candidates to

submit their nomination papers to the Managing Officer to contest the elections. The

nomination papers can be provided by the candidates, proposers, and supporters or either one

of them. The nomination papers must be submitted between 9 am and 10 am on the day of

nomination.

Campaigning

The Election Commission have drafted special rules on campaigning, as stated in the Election

Offences Ad (Amendment) 2002. Campaigning can only start after the nomination process

has been completed and must be stopped at midnight the day before elections day. To ensure

the smoothness of the elections, the Election Commission has the authority under Article 3(5)

Elections Act 1958 and Article 27 (A) Election Offences Act 1954, to appoint an

Enforcement Officer and form one or more Enforcement Teams in every Parliamentary

electorate, if deemed necessary. This unit is made up of an Enforcement Officer designated

by the Election Commission, a representative from the District Police Headquarters, a

representative of the Local Enforcement Authorities, and a representative of each form every

contesting party/candidate. The Enforcement Officer is responsible to the Managing Officer

and the duty of the team is to monitor campaign materials, election speeches and public

assemblies. This is to ensure that the provisions under the laws and regulations of the

elections are not violated. The Election Commission can also form committees at

Centre/State/electorate levels to provide information to political parties, candidates or agents

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and party workers on laws and regulations of the elections. Candidates and party workers

have to bear in mind, the during the elections there is a list of do’s and don’ts.

Usually, election campaigning comes in the form of:

(a) Distribution of pamphlets and letters:

(b) Posters;

(c) Closed speeches and public speeches;

(d) Door-to-door campaigning.

Political parties are allowed to present and explain their respective manifestos. They can also

use electronic media. However, candidates are required to put down a deposit of RM5,000 for

Parliamentary elections and RM3,000 for state elections. This deposit will be returned if the

candidates remove posters, banners, and such within14 days after elections day. Throughout

campaigning, the police will release guidelines to contesting candidates to ensure the election

run peacefully. All forms of campaigning must be ended at midnight the day before the

elections.

Voting Day

Voting day refers to the day voters cast their votes. The time for casting votes is set from 8

am to 5 pm throughout Malaysia. For rural areas, mobile units are used to ensure the

smoothness of the voting process. The time of vote-casting may differ from district to district.

The Election Commission usually releases notices informing the public about election

matters such as:

(a) Date for voting

(b) Polling stations

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(c) Time for casting votes at all voting centers

(d) Location of the vote counting and summation

Voting is carried out in gazetted voting centers. Every voting center has a Returning Officer

who will be in charge of the voting process. He will be helped by a voting clerk and vote-

counting clerk.

Vote Counting

Vote counting is carried out by the Returning Officer at the polling station or vote counting

centre. Postal votes for a particular insistency are counted by the Managing Officer at the

fixed vote counting centre. While vote counting is carried out, only authorised personnel may

enter the vote counting area. These personnel are:

(a) Members and officers of the Elections Commission

(b) Officers appointed by the Elections Commission

(c) Vote counting clerk

(d) Candidates, representatives and vote counting agents

The presence of the candidates' agents is to ensure that vote counting is carried out according

to the proper procedures set by the laws and regulations and to ensure the vote counting

process is correct, fair and transparent.

Official Summation of Votes

After the conclusion of vote counting at the polling stations and vote counting centres, the

result of the voting is submitted to the Managing Officer at the vote summation centre.

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The Managing Officers totals up all the votes, including postal votes, to determine the

winner. The Managing Officer for a constituency will declare the candidate with the majority

as the elected representative of the electorate.

Storage and Disposal of Ballot Paper

In an election process, one important aspect is the storage of ballot papers arid other related

documents. These documents must be kept in a box or special box and locked, witnessed by

the candidates' agents.

The special boxes are stored for six months under the supervision of the Managing Officers.

The State Director of Election will keep the voter registry, which has been signed and the

ballot paper counterfoils. This is to guarantee voting secrecy. The boxes can only be opened

under orders of a High Court Judge, if there are any petitions.

MALAYSIAN GENERAL ELECTION 1955

Malaysia general election of 1955 started on 27th July. It was only general election before

Malaysia got independence from the British in 1957. The voting committed in all 52

constituencies of Malaya, and each constituency can elect one local Federal Councillor to the

Federal Legislative council of Malaya. The state elections also were proceeded in all 136

state constituencies in 9 states of Malaya and 2 British settlements was hold from 10th

October 1954 to the 12th November 1955. Between this period the all-state voters do the

election to order one Councillor to the State Council or Settlement. Result of the general

election was a win for Alliance Party, which was manged by Tunku Abdul Rahman. The

Alliance Party consisted of three organisations. There are the United Malays National

Organisation (UMNO), the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) and Malayan Indian

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Congress (MIC). Later Alliance party preceding to form the new government of Malaysia,and

Tunku Abdul Rahman become ChiefMinister.

Figure 2: Map of winners by constituency

The timelines for federal legislative council, the nomination day was hold in 15 th June 1955,

and election day was hold in 27th July 1955. The Alliance party receive 81 per cent of votes

from total number votes.

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MALAYSIAN GENERAL ELECTION 2018

Figure 3: General Election 14 symbol

Election Commission of Malaysia uses the first-past-the-post system in a parliamentary

democracy. The procedure for the general election of 2018 stars from 28th March. That day

current prime minister of Malaysia of that time Najib Razak. He has presented the report of

the re-delineation of the Elections Commissions to the members of Dewan Rakyat. Dewan

Rakyat means in Malay “House of Representatives”, this is the lower house of the Malaysian

Parliament. There is two way to breakdown the parliament. First is a decline from the prime

minister order. The second breakdown of parliament is automatically breakdown after five

years when the parliament made the first meeting of the first session of the parliament of

Malaysia.

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6th April Najib Razak declared to break up the 13th Parliament of Malaysia. The next day

after declaration, 7th April the 13th parliament of Malaysia adjourned. Parliament of

Malaysia must be dissolved every five years, after the first general meeting of the previous

parliament meeting. After the parliament breaks down, from that day, the election process

can be stared and must to done within 60 days. 10th April Hashim Abdullah chairman of

Election Commission published the general election day, which will be held on 9th May. 28th

April begins nomination process of candidates, who nominate to prime minister position, and

general election start for them. All candidates must submit their nomination papers before

10:00 A.M. at the local time. Candidates must meet the following requirements to run for the

general election, first be the holder of Malaysian citizenship, minimum age of 21, the sound

of mind, and didn’t be a bankrupt charge. There were three leading candidates for Prime

Minister duty, Mahathir Mohamad, Najib Razak, and Abdul Hadi Awang. They all meet

those requirements to run for a general election, and they had a trusted reputation for standing

for an election which is also part of a requirement from the Election Commission. From 28th

April until 9th May, I started official 11-day of campaigning activities. Usually, during

campaign days, candidates travel around Malaysia, and give their speech to citizens, share

their ideas to make Malaysia better. Start from 5th May can give votes for candidates.

Malaysia announces public holiday for all citizens until general election finish. The citizens

who can give a vote, are must be least twenty-one years old, the sound of mind, be Malaysian

citizenship, and held identification card. Voters can make their votes at their constituencies

place. The voting processes for citizens start after when they registered with the Election

Commission. Every citizen can give only one vote to only one candidate. Every voter will

receive one ballot to vote for the candidate. The ballots must be filled up according to the

rules and regulations. If ballots didn’t fill up according to this requirement, then the

authorities have the right to eliminated ballots from the counting process. To confirm that

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citizen done vote, and will not provide a vote again, they must dye their thumb finger. To

confirm that votes were done confidentiality, the General Election Commission provides

individual booths to fill up the ballots in every vote given places. The process of voting is

observed and monitored by an election official, agents from the candidate’s party, and 14

local non-government organizations. Furthermore, General Commission invited 14 countries

to cooperate in the polls counting as foreigner monitors. To confirm that citizen done vote,

and will not provide a vote again, they must dye their thumb finger. All counting of votes is

proceeded by an appointed officer at the voting centre. Only four parties are allowed to enter

the counting centre. There are members and authority of Election Commission, officers that

appointed from Election Commission, counting stuff, agents from candidates.

At the 9th May Election Commission officers start counts ballots and amount of giving votes

to each candidate. Votes can be only counted after polling closed. Before to start vote

counting the counting stuff and Election Commission officer must make sure their hands are

clean. They will start to open the ballot boxes, and arrange ballot papers by identification

numbers and verify that ballot paper numbers are all consist. If officials suspect that ballot

boxes been illegally open and manipulated, then the ballot box will be eliminated and will be

sanded to further investigation. Only after this procedure, the counting stuff can start vote

counting on by one.

Here are votes results for candidates 5,781,600 votes gave to Mahathir Mohamad, 4,080,797

votes for Najib Razak, and the last one is 2,051,188 votes was giving to Abdul Hadi Awang.

As a result, Mahathir Mohamad wins the general election of 2018. 10th May Mahathir

Mohamad was inaugurated as new prime minister of Malaysia at Istana Negara. Istana

Negara means National Palace.

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Figure 4: candidates for prime minister positions

Figure 5: Istana Negara

CONCLUSION

The Election Commission of Malaysia is independent government department. Their duty is

perform fair, justice, and transparent election.

REFERENCE

1. Barnes, J. (n.d.). Malaysia’s election process explained | Malay Mail. [online]

www.malaymail.com. Available at:

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 https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2018/03/23/malaysias-election-process-

explained/1605467 [Accessed 16 Apr. 2020].

2. ‌www.thestar.com.my. (n.d.). PM tables redelineation report, significant changes in

some states | The Star Online. [online] Available at:

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2018/03/28/pm-tables-redelineation-report-

significant-changes-in-some-states/ [Accessed 16 Apr. 2020].

3. www.thestar.com.my. (n.d.). GE14: It’s on, Parliament will dissolve on Saturday |

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[Accessed 16 Apr. 2020].

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for-300000-voters/ [Accessed 16 Apr. 2020].

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Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-44063675 [Accessed 16 Apr.

2020].

6. Balakrishnan, N. (2018). Everything You Need To Know About How Votes Are

Counted On Polling Day. [online] SAYS. Available at:

https://says.com/my/lifestyle/everything-you-need-to-know-about-how-votes-are-

counted-on-polling-day [Accessed 25 Apr. 2020].

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7. www.aljazeera.com. (n.d.). Malaysia election: Vote-counting starts after “tight” poll.

[online] Available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/05/malaysia-election-

vote-counting-starts-tight-poll-180509072654971.html [Accessed 25 Apr. 2020].

8. Lim, M., Hai, H., Lim, H. and Hai (n.d.). Electoral Politics in Malaysia: “Managing”

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files/iez/01361005.pdf [Accessed 25 Apr. 2020].

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