I know most of us here are excited that we finally can exercise our rights as RAKYAT MALAYSIA!
So, for those who are overseas, I really pray you care to fly home for the future lies in your hand. For those who aren't back at your hometown, please also vote because it is your responsibility. Regardless of what the results may be.
Today, I will share with you the steps of checking your status, followed by the DONT'S on the election day
Step 1: Check your status
I suppose you know that you should check this by now. Simply input your NRIC without the dashes. You will be warmly greeted by PLEASE ENTER YOUR NRIC NUMBER WITHOUT DASHES.
For the record, aksara means characters in Bahasa. I find the poetic use of language amusing.
Upon signing in, you will then be able to check your status. If you're registered without consent, report to SPR to avoid the use of phantom voters (seen further by hyperlink in Step 3, and election offences).
PS: According to Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya, we have close to 15 million voters registered as of last year. So, if you are having a tiny weeny patience, it's best that you wait because everyone wants to know if they are eligible to vote this round or otherwise. Considering the demographics this time with more Millennial than GE13, it is common to have the rouse of excitement since the parliament is dissolved early this week.
Insufficient bandwidth allocation for everyone yo. Even loading some good gifs and images up for this post is a hassle.
Take note of your DAERAH MENGUNDI, because this is where you need to know which polling center (usually school) to go.
Step 2: Check your polling center
http://www.federalgazette.agc.gov.my/outputp/pub_20180330_PU%20B%20157.pdf
I have extracted this document from the official website containing all the bylaws in Malaysia for everyone's ease. I know it is going to take up a super long time vetting through page by page. What you need to do instead is use the DAERAH MENGUNDI and cross-refer to the first column that starts with the letter
P
Followed by the first 3 digits, which is the code reference of your federal constituency (aka parliament). Then, you refer to the other 4 digits separated by a forward slash /
Step 3: Do whatever it takes to exercise your voting rights, people!
If you're Malaysian living abroad, this link will be of your interest. I believe it is well written and you can understand it better than me as I've never lived overseas my entire life.
https://www.globalbersih.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/FAQ-Final-28072017.pdf
Now comes the DONT'S of election
There are a lot of things punishable by law (under Election Offences Act 1954). You can read a copy of it in this link:
http://www.agc.gov.my/agcportal/uploads/files/Publications/LOM/EN/Act%205%20-%20Reprint%202016.pdf
You can jump straight to Sections 7-10 of the Act for the verbatim of the sections. I will just "dumb it down" for my own understanding, and everyone else's.
Personation
Do not impersonate any living or dead homo sapien, fictional or otherwise.
In short, you cannot vote under the glamorous name of Harry Potter or Tom Cruise. Vote as yourself and yourself only.
Treating
It is seriously a super long section pointing towards the old saying of...
Do not take candies from strangers.
Candies here mean "...food, drink, refreshment or provision, or any money or ticket or other means or device to enable the procuring of any food, drink, refreshment or provision..."
See, I told you. The section is written very long to make sure all aspects of "candies" and "intentions of candies" are covered.
Undue influence
Do not mess people's freewill of choice, either by causing them physical harm or spiritual harm.
In short, don't threaten people with batons, words or black magic.
Bribery
Similar to the issues with candies above, but now it is on "money or valuable consideration". I guess, you know what it means by now.
If you're offered a Porsche, reject.
Now comes the DO of voting which boils down to...
Learning to appreciate the comparison of manifestos between Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan.
Barisan Nasional's Manifesto
Pakatan Harapan's Manifesto