KUALA LUMPUR (May 8): Ahead of polling day tomorrow, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) said the people of Malaysia deserve to be able to exercise their vote freely as the will of Malaysians is "inalienable and sacrosanct".

In a statement today, Suhakam chairman Tan Sri Razali Ismail reaffirmed the commission’s commitment to a free and fair election and its solidarity with the people to have the freedom to make their determination on those who will represent them through a democratic process.

“Suhakam encourages Malaysians to take the opportunity of tomorrow’s general election to exercise their civil and political rights by casting their vote wisely and judiciously, with the best interest of our beloved nation,” he said.

However, Razali reiterated Suhakam’s disappointment that it is not allowed by the Election Commission to monitor the election process, which it believes is completely unjustifiable.

“Despite this, Suhakam continues to monitor the conduct of the elections from nomination day.

“The Election Commission (EC) is a machinery for the people mandated by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to facilitate fair and independent voting process and not to take actions that can make it be accused of being partisan and selective.

“Suhakam in the future will address these questions and will call for the institution of the EC to be revamped taking into account wholesome practices elsewhere,” said Razali.

He pointed out that Malaysia was ranked at the 125th position of 197 countries worldwide in the 2018 World Electoral Freedom Index and said that this is symptomatic of the country’s situation.

“Suhakam believes that the level playing field is affected with instances of questionable disqualification of candidates and money and gifts being distributed, which is defended as being within the perimeters of Malaysian law, but long discarded by many democratic countries.

“[We] continue to see the redelineation exercise as an epic breach of democratic election principles flouting proportionality. Suhakam has been informed of various instances where people have had their right to vote curtailed and Suhakam has received complaints of postal ballots not being received up to 48 hours before the election and other discrepancies,” said Razali.