Malaysia’s day of reckoning has arrived, with the country heading to polling stations for the 14th General Election, from 8am this morning until 5pm this afternoon.
Thousands braved the early morning rush and headed to neighborhood schools and community centers across Kuala Lumpur this morning to cast their ballots.
Coconuts KL woke up at the early side of sunrise to have a look at the action, and we saw hundreds who were patiently waiting to exercise their democratic right.
It won’t be until late this evening that we know the result of the battle between incumbent Prime Minister Najib Razak and his 92-year-old one-time mentor, and former prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad.
Worries around travel into the country reached a fever pitch last night, with a widely circulated video purporting to be from one of the country’s airports making the rounds on WhatsApp groups.
Official reports and CCTV images indicate that travel along the border with Singapore is clear at present. There are currently 400,000 Malaysians working in the city state.
As these Malaysians will need to travel across the borders to cast their votes, our Singaporean neighbors are advising avoiding going up north to help free up traffic and ease the immigration process for voters. Thanks guys! Very thoughtful of you.
Though the likelihood of Singaporean travelers causing congestion at the borders today is small (it is a working weekday after all), it wouldn’t hurt to avoid going over to Johor Bahru to ensure a smooth flow of Malaysians heading home to go to the polls.
GE14
GE14 will be a crucial time for Malaysians as the current prime minister faces a tough test at the poll thanks to a corruption scandal surrounding state fund 1MDB, discontent over rising living costs and significant challenge from former political titan Mahathir Mohamad. Mahathir had been a mentor to PM Najib, and abandoned the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition in 2016, embarrassed by the corruption scandal.
Concerns have been raised about the fairness of the process. The weekday polling date has been labeled as unfair and something that could cause a low voter turnout. Having a low voter turnout would be beneficial for BN as they could score a landslide victory if the turnout is less than 65 percent of the electorate.
The government also recently passed a law redrawing election boundaries, producing allegations that they are ensuring that altered constituencies are filled with Malay-Muslims — typically BN supporters. A fake news law was recently introduced as well, and Mahathir faced investigations.
“This election is not just dirty, it is filthy,” Bridget Welsh, a Malaysia expert from John Cabot University, told AFP. “Najib’s insecurity is delegitimizing the electoral process.”
The immigration process
Posts have appeared on Facebook depicting the massive congestion at the Singapore-Malaysia border yesterday.
Here’s one from yesterday afternoon at the Malaysian side of the Tuas Second Link.
Singapore’s Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) assured that there were no problems on their side at all, stating that “there are no issues with our clearance systems”.
As of writing, traffic looks pretty clear at both land checkpoints, so there shouldn’t be any problems for Malaysian voters remaining here to scoot on over to the other side.
