Voluntary voter registration in Malaysia is either flawed or, more cynically, a systemic mechanism constructed to frustrate, not assist, the registration of new voters.

The figures speak for themselves. There are a total of around 15 million Malaysian citizens over the legal voting age of 21, but only 10 million or so are registered on the current electoral roll.

In other words, a third of voting age adults is outside the electoral process. That process is fundamental to any nation claiming any semblance of democracy.

Of the 4.9 million Malaysian citizens of voting age who have yet to register as voters, 80 percent are Malays. And what is more, 80 percent of them are urban youth aged between 21 and 30. The more inquisitive young and urban voters are problematic for the ruling coalition since they tend to be more critical by nature.

Most are astonished to learn that Malays form the majority of those who have yet to register. By default, nearly four million Malays opt out of the electoral process. Should we be surprised that very few Umno ministers or leaders the supposed guardians of Malay rights ever comment on such an important deprivation of rights for the Malays?

On the surface, it is not difficult to understand why young urban Malays are not interested in voting. Apart from the usual suspect political apathy, voting simply does not reflect the demographic reality of today's Malaysia, which has around 65 percent urban dwellers. This figure is expected to increase to 75 percent by 2020. The bulk of them are Malays.

First-generation Malay urban residents who have been migrating from rural areas since the 1970s continue to vote in their kampungs of origin. According to Election Commission chairperson Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman, the National Registration Department (NRD) database shows that "at least 35 percent of the 10.3 million registered electors can no longer be found (residing) in the respective constituencies (where) they were registered."

However, urban born-and-bred Malay youngsters in racialised Malaysia find no affinity with most urban electorates that often have non-Malays as candidates and representatives. This gives them no reason to wish to vote.

Rural against urban

Yet, it would not be surprising if this is part of Umno's grand design to keep Malaysian politics in archaic dichotomies that pit "rural" against "urban", and Malay against non-Malays.

Since independence in 1957, the ruling Umno has depended on rural Malays to deliver victory to the ruling coalition and strengthen its hand vis--vis other Barisan Nasional component parties.
In close-knit rural communities, Umno cultivates support through a partisan patronage system. Village headmen are party appointees who in turn provide assistance, monetary and otherwise, to the villagers. If a parent with school-going children wants to participate in the "buku pinjaman" (book loan) scheme, he/she has to get an endorsement from the headman or elected representative. The "kepala sepuluh" method, which demands that an Umno grassroots activist deliver the votes of 10 of his or her neighbours, is an electoral success story, barring the case of 1999 when Malay anger hit the roof over the sacking and mistreatment of the then deputy prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim.

Merdeka Centre poll expert Ibrahim Suffian pointed out that while there are at least 30 percent swing voters among the Chinese at any given time, there are only 10 to 15 percent undecided Malay voters before a poll. The corollary is that both sides of the divide competing for Malay votes stick to old-style politics since there is very little incentive for Malay parties to go the extra mile to win the middle ground. The middle ground simply does not exist.

The disenfranchisement of young urban Malays holds grave consequences for the long-term health of Malaysia's democracy.

The seemingly secure rural vote bank gives Umno a false sense of security. From the ruling party's point of view, as long as its rural support is intact, it holds a carte blanche to power. Other factors do not carry as much weight as rural support. This is aggravated by the systemic malapportionment of constituencies which results in a situation whereby the population in a non-Umno seat is often two or three times that in an Umno-held seat.

Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's "return to agriculture" and "back to basics" policies can be understood in this light. For instance, although being an oil producer benefitted Malaysia when international oil prices skyrocket, petrol and electricity prices were nonetheless raised, which inevitably ate into the disposable incomes of the urban working class. Oil proceeds were then used for "development projects", which are mostly channeled through rural-based Umno divisional leadership, many of whom are Class F contractors themselves.

But for how long can such a blatant mismatch between the demographic and political realities of contemporary Malaysia go on?

Imagine if the four million unregistered young urban Malays suddenly decided to get onto the electoral roll. I am quite sure the government would be thinking twice before it dismissed the Malaysian Trade Unions Congress' (MTUC) demand for a minimum wage mechanism. Most young urban Malays earn a paltry wage as workers in the manufacturing or services sectors.

Or perhaps, a younger set of ministers would have to be appointed to maintain some contact with the young. Currently, the average age of the Malaysian Cabinet (full ministers) is 58.63 years old one of the oldest in the region.

Siege mentality

The experience of advanced democracies such as Australia, European countries, Japan, and United States show that the interests of a rural agricultural population is distinctly different from that of an urban population. A siege mentality and demands for trade and other protections are shared characteristics of agricultural workers and capitalists when challenged by urbanisation, industrialisation and, most recently, globalisation. It is thus highly unlikely that rural Malays will reach out to urban non-Malays for consensus and vice-versa.

However, Malaysia is in actual fact an urban, industrial and multi-ethnic society. And it is possible for urban dwellers of all races to find common ground on issues of public goods because of their shared spatial experience. One cannot run away from over-arching issues such as traffic congestion, tap-water standards, air quality, healthcare, local council services, safety and security, and so on.

These are the themes that will change the face of Malaysian politics from a race-based elite bargaining system to one that addresses the common interests of the common people.

Where to, from here? Let us first agree that a system that disenfranchises a third of the eligible citizenry from voting by default is a flawed one that demands immediate attention.

Automatic registration of voters is one way out of the current quagmire and, technically, it is perfectly possible for the Election Commission to do so with immediate effect, so long as relevant electoral laws and regulations are amended.

Since July 2002, the Election Commission has been able to access voter information from the NRD database by merely entering the identity card number of that voter. Taking it a step further, the NRD and EC should share their databases and free the EC from the laborious task of the voter registration that it has not done very well, judging from the number of eligible citizens it has failed to get onto the electoral roll.

Voter registration is a costly endeavour. To be precise, it will cost RM30 million for this year's exercise. It would be wise for this money to be spent on ensuring that future elections will be clean, free and fair.

For a better and more representative Malaysia, let us do away with our archaic voluntary voter registration practice and start afresh with automatic voter registration.

LIEW CHIN TONG is executive director of Research for Social Advancement (Refsa). He also assists the Steering Committee for the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections (Bersih).