Amendments to two election laws will be presented to Parliament in the next session in October, Minister in Prime Minister's Department Rais Yatim said today.

He conceded that he had insufficient time to present amendments to the Elections Act and Elections Offences Act in the current parliamentary session, which ends on this Thursday.

"These are the two instruments which I am directly involved in updating, and I hope to present to the government in its finality towards October.

"We could not present it in the current session due to insufficient time," he lamented, after attending a special briefing on current issues organised by the Information Ministry at the National Library auditorium this afternoon.

He added that the amendments will allow the Elections Commission to undertake a clean slate in verifying that voters registered under each roll were genuine.

"That is all that we want. And for this, although the original submission was for the Constitution to be proportionately amended, we are of the opinion that it is more proper for it to come under the election laws of the country," said Rais.

Phantom voters

Asked about criticisms by certain quarters on the effectiveness of the amendments to increase the credibility of the EC, Rais said that the government was not too worried about it.

"Everything that we try to do, the anticipation is of course negative by certain quarters.

"The criticism can be there but it is up to the EC to convince (the public) that they can do the job. We shouldn't be stifled by criticisms anyway," said Rais.

On July 19, Rais said the Federal Constitution would be amended this week to prevent legal challenges to an electoral roll by making the roll definitive once gazetted.

Rais was reported as saying that this would also indirectly "help eliminate the problem of phantom voters", though he offered no further explanation. (Phantom voters are those who use fake identity cards or identity cards that belong to others to register as genuine voters.)

According to Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) president Joseph Pairin Kitingan, the proposal will endanger the right of citizenship and create an injustice to Malaysians, while DAP leader Lim Kit Siang said the proposed amendments would legalise the presence of phantom voters.

Forced labour

Meanwhile, Rais said that an amendment to Article 6 of the Constitution on forced labour would help overcome the restrictions on prisoners doing social work

"At present, permission given to allow prisoners to do social work is restricted and can be questioned by certain quarters especially lawyers and those with in-depth knowledge of the Constitution.

"Therefore we are bringing an amendment which will allow prisoners to work during their free time and be paid allowances. The purpose is that they can be involved in social work which cannot be interpreted as forced labour," he added.

He said that with the amendments, prisoners will be allowed to work in teams, in and outside the prison.

"If outside, it has to be managed systematically and they can be paid for their services.

"This has not been clearly stated so far, although right now, they are given allowances but they are actually restricted when it comes to work in and outside the prison," added Rais.