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Fixing the date on a weekday especially in the middle of the week will naturally cause inconvenience and hardship to the population who want to have a say in steering their country forward.
The General Election is done once in 5 years and it is the responsibility of the citizen of any country to participate in this voting as they will be deciding the leaders they want to represent them and administrate the nation.
Therefore the authorities who are fixing the dates should responsibly decide the most suitable date for the maximum number of voters to come out to carry out their duties in casting their votes.
Why can’t the election commission decide on a weekend which would be ideal for the population to cast their votes.
With the various kinds of hardship faced by Workers today to eke out a decent living and if even to cast their legitimate vote to elect their leaders is through another hardship it will definitely invoke anger and instil distrust with the authorities.
Selecting the middle of the week as a voting day will certainly involve travelling by a large number of voters who have to return to their voting Centre. In addition, they may also need to bring along with them their elderly and immediate family members which will definitely cause a bottleneck in the middle of the week.
There will be employers who are going to deprive the employers to cast their votes. Some employees will complain and some will keep silent for fear of being penalised by their employers.
How are the authorities going to police this part of the problem when even the existing numerous violation by employers on workers is also not acted on by the authorities.
When nomination day could be decided on a Saturday to facilitate the supporters to be around them and even the early polling dates for postal votes could be fixed on a Saturday why can’t voting day for the masses be on Saturday and why must it be on a middle day of the week?
MTUC, J.Solomon says, is disappointed with the authorities for continuously causing hardship to workers and it only proves that workers are made the sorry victims always.
It is still not too late and we hope the election commission will responsibly choose the most suitable day as voting day.Unless of course, the intention of the decision was to create hardship and inconvenience for the masses while it benefits certain vested parties.
Address: Wisma MTUC,10-5, Jalan USJ 9/5T, 47620 Subang Jaya,Selangor | Tel: 03-80242953 | Fax: 03-80243225 | Email: sgmtuc@gmail.com.com