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Nearly 2.5 million Malaysians are estimated to live abroad as of 2025. How accessible is the country’s electoral system for this growing diaspora to vote? Nirmala Devi Windgaetter of Global Bersih unpacks the challenges facing overseas voters and what needs to change to make every vote count.
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00:06Hello, you're watching It's About Youth with me, Feikwan.
00:09Malaysia is now officially in election season, with recent state elections in Johor and Negeri Sambilan
00:16really putting voter participation back into the spotlight.
00:20But for Malaysians living overseas, exercising that right can come with a very different set of challenges
00:27for the Malaysians currently in the country.
00:30And according to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs,
00:34around 2.5 million Malaysians are living abroad as of 2025.
00:40So how accessible really is Malaysia's electoral system for this growing diaspora?
00:46Joining me in the studio today to speak a little bit more about this is Nirmala Devi Wingate.
00:51She is the President of Global Bersay. Nirmala, thank you so much for joining me today.
00:55Thank you for having me, Feikwan.
00:56It's a pleasure to have you here.
00:58Now firstly, when we're talking about this, let's start with the basics.
01:03For a Malaysian living overseas, what does it actually take to cast a vote through this postal voting system
01:09from registering and also getting that ballot back to Malaysia?
01:13Okay, first of all, we are all registered automatically.
01:15So basically, everyone who has a Malaysian passport, we are considered a voter.
01:21Over 18, and when you live in overseas, there's another process that you have to go through to register as
01:27overseas postal voter.
01:28And that would be the 1B category of postal voters.
01:31You have to open a MyDaftar SPR account, and then you have to register as a voter and put in
01:38your address in overseas.
01:41And then you wait for it to be approved. That would take about 24 hours.
01:45And then you are considered an overseas postal voter.
01:49So what you can do after that, you have to wait for the nomination day.
01:52On the nomination day, the ballots will be printed and will be sent out to overseas to the address where
01:57you have registered in.
01:59You will receive the ballot, and you will have these days' nomination period and the campaign period is only 14
02:07days.
02:07So you have about 14 days, ultimately, but your ballots will arrive about 5 days or 6 days after the
02:15nomination day.
02:16You have to fill in the ballot.
02:18You have to find another 18-year-old Malaysian to be a witness of your ballot,
02:24and then fill up this form 2 and post it back to Malaysia, to the Pegawai Pengurus.
02:30That's their constituency where you vote in.
02:33So that's the whole process.
02:35It's quite a tight timeline, isn't it? 14 days.
02:3914 days is not doable.
02:42We have proven it again and again, but every single election, every single state election, recent Johor election,
02:4914 days is not enough for us to go through all this process.
02:53It's not doable.
02:55I mean, I'd like to get a little bit more into that.
02:58But also, you mentioned that Malaysians are automatically registered as voters now,
03:04but a significant part of this, our diaspora is made up of students or young professionals that may be studying
03:10or working overseas.
03:12So what does this current system mean for a young Malaysian who's living abroad and wants to vote for the
03:17very first time?
03:19We have to remember many of the students who actually go to overseas, they're around at the age of 20,
03:2721,
03:28and the chances of them being the first time voter is really high.
03:32So that would be their first experience voting.
03:35And voting from overseas is totally different from voting locally.
03:40So that means you have this whole huge pool of students.
03:44I think the last number we had was from 2024 from the Ministry of Higher Education.
03:48More than 55,000 students are studying overseas.
03:52So that's like a huge amount if you think about it.
03:55And they're first time voters.
03:56So for them to understand the fact that they have to register,
04:00to understand the fact that after registration, they have to wait for the ballots to arrive,
04:06and to understand all the other parts where you have to find another Malaysian,
04:11you have to vote in a certain way, you have to fill the ballot in a certain way,
04:17fold it in a certain way, and bring it back, and send it back.
04:21So all this information is not there.
04:24Nobody is reaching out to them and giving this information except for Global Birthday.
04:29Therefore, it makes it very difficult for them, even the process of registration.
04:34And then comes the process of when they receive the ballots,
04:37and they realize they don't have enough time to send the ballots back.
04:40And they're helpless because they are sitting in overseas.
04:44They might have good infrastructure network of group of people among them,
04:48but all of them are also in the same situation.
04:51And therefore, it makes it very difficult for these first-time voters
04:56to actually be motivated to go out and vote.
04:59And one must remember their first voting experience
05:02will influence every single other experience they're going to have in the future.
05:07So I think we cannot downplay the importance of reaching out to these overseas students
05:13and all the youth and encouraging them to vote or empowering them
05:17to bring their votes back or to send their votes back.
05:20It does sound like it can be a very overwhelming experience,
05:23especially when it's your first time and you're not quite sure where to start,
05:26or you may not necessarily have that Malaysian community to guide you
05:29from wherever you're based overseas.
05:32You mentioned earlier that there are several steps, of course,
05:36that a voter has to navigate from another country.
05:40What do you see as the biggest point of friction in that whole process?
05:44Aside, you know, we spoke a little bit about the timeline earlier.
05:47I think we have to see it from two different parts.
05:49The first part is the registration part.
05:51So many, I mean, not only youth, but generally the diaspora,
05:56they are not aware that you have to register for every single election.
06:00So for every single election, you have to go to your Maya Daftar SPR,
06:04you have to register as a postal, overseas postal voter.
06:07And many overseas Malaysians are not aware of this.
06:10And they register for one election and they think it's done.
06:13So there has to be more awareness,
06:16that more mobilization and more voters' education
06:19that has to be focusing on that,
06:21like organizing overseas Malaysians to register,
06:24to get their Maya Daftar SPR.
06:25So that has to happen.
06:27Then comes the second part, is the campaign period.
06:30The campaign period is too short to get the ballots back.
06:34So something has to happen there.
06:36And campaign period is not a theme that many stakeholders are interested in.
06:40Political parties are not interested in longer campaign period.
06:43It means more work, more money.
06:45They need a bigger budget to campaign.
06:46For the election commission, that means they would have to do more preparation
06:50during the campaign period.
06:52They have to ensure that nobody is breaking the rules and laws.
06:55So it's a bit difficult to have a longer campaign period.
06:58Having said that, that is the biggest problem.
07:03Time.
07:04That's the biggest problem.
07:05And once we have a longer campaign period,
07:07many other things can be solved.
07:09Well, I mean, global bursae and bursae is really front and centre
07:13at overseas voter education and mobilization for many years.
07:17I think time and time again, especially during general elections,
07:20you always see, especially now on social media,
07:23the voter mobilization, people helping to bring these postal voting back.
07:28And it really raises a sense of patriotism or, you know,
07:31that we're all united for a single cause.
07:33And yet, you know, if we were looking at recent figures,
07:37in recent state elections, the number of the Category 1B postal ballots
07:42that you've mentioned that were issued to overseas Malaysians
07:45had fallen sharply.
07:46So that was around 7,800 in 2024 and now just a little over 1,000 in 2026.
07:52What do you think that decline is really telling us about the need for reform
07:56or how urgent it is?
07:58When we look at this decline, one has to see the numbers represent many things, right?
08:04So when you look at the decline, it might show that less people are voting from overseas.
08:10But you have to see it from the other side that the decline actually shows
08:15that the system is not working, that the overseas militians are not being mobilized,
08:21voters' education is not being done.
08:22Johor election was the first time that Global Berse didn't manage to do any voters' education
08:28or mobilization.
08:30We had no capacity, we had no financial, so we decided we just cannot do it.
08:35And I'm not telling that's the reason why it declined,
08:39but it's a framework where you can actually think when nobody's doing that,
08:44the numbers go down.
08:45But it should not be seen that overseas militians or the youth do not want to vote
08:51because if you look at every single elections that we had from GE 13, GE 14, GE 15
08:57and the state elections, the youth, they have come up, they have worked with Global Berse,
09:03they have shown their motivation and their passion to bring the ballots back.
09:08So if somebody's going to tell me that the youth is not interested to vote,
09:12I'm going to ask them to just look at the social media, what Vote Malaysia has been doing,
09:17what the different youth organizations in all over the diaspora has been doing,
09:21and it really proves that they are there to vote.
09:26And it really just shows that Global Berse is just one part of the equation, right?
09:32And it really takes a bigger community beyond that to really mobilize
09:37and to allow overseas voters to exercise their vote.
09:42And you've done, if you could talk to us a little bit about the efforts that you've done.
09:46I think there's bilingual FAQs, bilingual guides, reminders,
09:49even helping the diaspora return their ballots.
09:52What have you learned from doing this work?
09:55What works?
09:55What isn't sustainable anymore?
09:57One thing for sure that we know that through the voters' mobilization
10:04and voters' education, people react to it.
10:07So from the reaction we have, we have to admit Global Berse is a bit the anti-level,
10:13so we do the Facebooks.
10:15So we have the other youth, they also have TikTok and everything.
10:18But you see, we have this Facebook group called,
10:22it was called the Postal Collection, Ballot Collection before,
10:25and now it's been called the State Elections Ballot Collection
10:28because that was the last time it was active.
10:30So it's a platform where all over the world, people get on that platform,
10:34people share, this is what I have, this is what I need, this is what we're doing.
10:39So the main things that we could see, the main problems that we could identify,
10:43ballots arriving late, as I mentioned before, that's like the main thing.
10:47But there are also other problems, such as you need another Malaysian to witness your form too.
10:52If you live in Berlin, it's no problem.
10:55But if you live in a small village somewhere in Bavaria, being the only Malaysian,
10:58you don't have another person to witness that.
11:01And then you would just say like, there's no point in me voting.
11:06So that is something that we've always seen, there's a problem there.
11:11And what we see all the time is that people asking,
11:14they have no idea what to do when the ballot comes in.
11:18What SPR or Wisma Putra have to do, they have to have targeted mobilisation
11:24and targeted voters' education for overseas Malaysians.
11:26It's not enough to just have how to vote in academic Bavaria,
11:31but they have to have targeted like, this is what's going to happen,
11:34this is what the ballot's going to be, this is what you have to do.
11:37And this information, it has to be shared beforehand, not during the election.
11:41It should be an ongoing process that people are aware,
11:45that people know already what to do when the ballots arrive
11:47and they're not scrambling up and down.
11:49So basically what we have seen is the lack of information
11:54from institutions that are in charge of it.
11:57And the other part is the process itself that the ballots don't arrive on time.
12:03And those are the two things that is the main thing.
12:06Yeah, consistency and keeping it going rather than just relying on election fever.
12:11And that's when people are scrambling to find out what to do.
12:14Even locally in Malaysia itself, that's an issue.
12:18Well, I'd like to talk a little bit more about reforms
12:21and I'd love to delve into that.
12:22But first, let's head for a quick break. Stay with us.
12:38Welcome back to It's About Youth, where today we're covering
12:42mobilising overseas voters in light of the election season in Malaysia.
12:47Now, I'm here with Nirmala Devi Wingate from Global Bersay.
12:53And Global Bersay and Bersay themselves have called for several reforms
12:57when it comes to overseas voters.
13:00From earlier applications, you've also mentioned ballot tracking in your statements,
13:06clearer instructions and of course longer timelines,
13:08which we have mentioned a few times already.
13:10Among this list of reforms though, because there's quite a lot for us to address here,
13:15what would you say are some of the biggest priorities?
13:18I think the biggest priority would be having a longer campaign period.
13:22Again, that would actually solve a lot of the problems.
13:27But I also think that SPR needs to look into an alternative method
13:35for overseas Malaysians to vote.
13:38Because if they cannot give us a longer timeline,
13:41so the way of voting has to change.
13:43So that would be one of the major reforms that we are looking into.
13:49And the other part would be the mobilisation.
13:52That means that there has to be a working structure or a framework
13:59with Wisma, Putra and SPR working together in order to access
14:03and empower the overseas voters.
14:05So when these two things happen,
14:09then it would be a ripple effect to help for the other things that's going to happen.
14:13And it also gives us a better lobby.
14:15When these changes happen, it will give us more numbers
14:18and then it will give us more power to do more change.
14:22You've also proposed something called a controlled fill-in ballot model.
14:26I wonder if you could elaborate a little bit more about that.
14:29How would that work or what does that look like in practice
14:31and what safeguards need to be ensured to make sure
14:34that it doesn't compromise any sort of electoral integrity?
14:37Okay, I think first of all, as I mentioned before,
14:42the ballots are usually printed on the nomination day
14:45after you have the names of the candidates, right?
14:48So what we are trying to aim for is that
14:51we will have the ballots printed beforehand
14:54without the name of the candidates
14:57and it will be sent to the overseas voters.
14:59So that means the moment the election is announced,
15:02the ballots will be sent out to overseas voters
15:04without the name of the candidates.
15:06So that means we will already have the ballots
15:09before the nomination day.
15:11So when the nomination day happens,
15:14what SPR will do is they will update
15:17all the names of the nominations on our MyDaftar SPR.
15:21So we as voters, all we have to do is
15:23check who are the candidates in our area
15:26and write down the name of the candidates
15:28and a special quote.
15:29So that's a, you know, how do you call it,
15:32like check and balance, like the quote and the name.
15:34And then we can send the ballots back.
15:36So that means it will really cut that part,
15:40the foreign part where we have to wait
15:41for the ballots to be sent out.
15:43It's a great method of voting for us
15:46because it doesn't change so much.
15:47It gives less work for the SPR.
15:49We are not waiting for the ballots.
15:51And another thing that I want to like bring up
15:54is the hidden cause of voting from overseas
15:56that many people don't realize.
15:57For an example, if the ballots come back,
16:01I'll give you my personal experience.
16:03For the state election,
16:03my ballot came five days after the nomination period.
16:06So I had nine days to send it back.
16:08I could send it back by post,
16:09but I had to pay 90 euros.
16:12And that's nearly like 400 to 500 ringgit
16:15to send one ballot back.
16:17I did it because I believe in the system
16:19and it's an investment that I was willing to make.
16:22So I did it.
16:23But we cannot ask the students to send it back.
16:27So that's like the hidden cause of voting.
16:28And if we get our ballots early enough,
16:31we would be able to send it back
16:34using the normal postal system,
16:36a registered letter that would only cost us
16:382 euro for descents or 3 euros,
16:40depending where you are.
16:42So basically, fill-in ballot would solve that problem
16:46where the ballot timeline becomes shorter.
16:49But of course, I think the main worry
16:51when you talk about fill-in ballots,
16:53about writing down,
16:54people will go that, you know, undi rosa.
16:56So the chances of the ballot being rejected is high.
16:59So because of that,
17:00there has to be some safeguards.
17:02Like one of the main safeguards is like,
17:04you know, when you fly on an airline,
17:05you always have a possibility
17:07of making mistakes of one alphabet or two alphabet.
17:11So that has to be vectored in
17:13when we look at the ballot.
17:15And, you know, certain mistakes
17:17like the spelling of Muhammad,
17:18there are many spellings of Muhammad.
17:20So that also, like, you know,
17:22we can say that, you know,
17:23another vector that we say that
17:25double M is acceptable when it's 1M.
17:27So there has to be a small levy for mistakes.
17:33And another thing is also that
17:34they can also invest in a handwriting machine
17:37which reads handwritings.
17:39And that is used in police work
17:42and everything where you can read the handwriting.
17:43So when they do that,
17:44then it translates which name
17:47has been written there clearly.
17:49So basically, it's a doable system.
17:52It hasn't been done in general elections before,
17:55but in smaller elections in other countries.
17:57And we really think that
17:59if SPR is doing this,
18:03it might be a good option for us to move forward.
18:06It might solve many of the problems.
18:09We have spoken to SPR last year.
18:11We had a meeting with SPR
18:12when we brought up this method.
18:14And SPR was very interested.
18:17And they said they are willing to look into it
18:20and see how far they will take it.
18:21So hopefully,
18:22these reforms happen soon
18:25because I think all of us
18:26are already a bit worried
18:27when the next election is coming.
18:29I think they're going to be Malacca election.
18:31They're going to be Sarawak election coming up.
18:33In fact,
18:34that might be a very good possibility
18:36for the SPR to actually do a pilot
18:38for something like this
18:40because a smaller election,
18:41a Malacca election is quite a small election.
18:43So they can do something like this
18:46as an extra pilot
18:47and they can measure it
18:49and they can see and optimize it
18:50until the big election comes on.
18:52So that's what we're looking for.
18:54That's the fill-in ballot method
18:55that you're going for.
18:56Now's the time.
18:57It's the best time
18:58to really start rolling it out,
19:00trial and error,
19:01figure out what works,
19:02what doesn't
19:02before going on a bigger scale.
19:04And, you know,
19:05thank you so much for pointing out
19:06that exercising your right to vote
19:08shouldn't come at a cost,
19:09especially for the youth
19:11when they make up
19:12such a big part
19:13of the electoral population.
19:16Now, you've mentioned also
19:18that we don't know
19:19that the next general election
19:20could come a lot sooner
19:21than we expect,
19:22which makes me wonder
19:24how much time
19:25does Malaysia really realistically have
19:27to implement all these reforms
19:30to make them happen?
19:31What needs to be done
19:32before the next general election
19:33is called?
19:34One thing for sure
19:36that we have learned
19:36from our experience
19:37is that,
19:39of course,
19:39as a CSO,
19:41we want changes
19:42to happen fast.
19:43We want big changes.
19:44But we've also learned
19:45to have our lessons
19:46that we are trying to aim
19:48for the low-hanging fruits.
19:49So that means
19:50that we're trying to go
19:51for reforms
19:51that doesn't need
19:52two-thirds
19:52of the parliament's
19:55decision
19:56in order to change.
19:57So when we talk
19:58about a campaign period,
19:59it will be decided
20:01by the SPR
20:02and they just have
20:03to be approved
20:04in the parliament.
20:06So there's no discussion
20:07of two-thirds.
20:08You don't have to get
20:09all the political parties
20:10buy-in.
20:10So those are the changes
20:12that we're looking for.
20:13And changing the Form 2
20:15is also in the jurisdiction
20:16of SPR.
20:18And also the method
20:20of voting
20:20is also in the jurisdiction
20:22of SPR.
20:23All they have to do
20:24is bring it to the parliament
20:25to be signed
20:25and there's no discussion
20:26for two-thirds.
20:27So these are changes
20:28that actually can happen.
20:30Visma Putra can already start
20:32doing ongoing mobilisation now.
20:35They can reach out
20:36to their missions
20:37all over the world
20:38and connect them
20:39and tell them
20:40this is what we have to do.
20:41So it has to start now.
20:43If you ask me
20:43how much time we have,
20:45I'm going to tell you
20:46that it's too late.
20:47We should be starting
20:48last year already.
20:50Indonesia starts
20:51their overseas voting
20:54preparation two years
20:55before the election.
20:57So I'm not comparing
20:58because they have
20:58a huge diaspora.
21:00But on the other hand,
21:02the right to vote
21:03doesn't change
21:04when you leave the country.
21:05We are very connected.
21:07Overseas Malaysians
21:08are very connected
21:09to the country.
21:10We are very motivated
21:12and we think
21:14that we have proven
21:15ourselves again
21:17and again
21:17for our right to vote.
21:19And it's about time
21:21that institutions
21:21like Wismaputra
21:23and SPR
21:23take their responsibility
21:25to mobilise overseas voters
21:27to ensure
21:28that we have a system
21:29that works
21:29and not depend
21:31on the possibility
21:32of CSOs
21:34or on voluntary
21:36frameworks to do it.
21:37It definitely
21:38shouldn't be depending
21:39on all this
21:40voluntary capacity
21:41when there's time
21:43for you to
21:44sort of plan
21:45your resources ahead.
21:47Well, I mean,
21:48besides all that
21:49doom and gloom,
21:49I would also like
21:50to shift the conversation
21:51a little bit more
21:52to the progress
21:53that we've taken
21:54as a country.
21:55What sort of changes
21:57have actually
21:57been implemented
21:58already following
21:59previous recommendations
22:00from Global Berset
22:01and Berset
22:02and where do you see
22:03the most meaningful progress?
22:05Okay, I mean,
22:06we have to give benefit
22:07when there's benefit
22:08to give
22:08when it's due.
22:10So basically,
22:11one thing we have realised
22:12that SPR
22:13has been more open
22:14towards reform
22:16and in the end,
22:18I do believe
22:18that we all
22:19are all on the same page.
22:21We all want
22:22what's best
22:23for the nation,
22:23for the country
22:24and for the people.
22:25So one of the major things
22:26that changed
22:27was the online registration
22:29for overseas voters.
22:30We did a survey
22:31in 2018
22:32after the election
22:33and we were also
22:34very motivated.
22:35So we did a survey
22:36of what we can do
22:37and everything
22:37and one of the suggestions
22:38was online registration
22:39and that has been
22:41implemented by SPR.
22:42So that's like
22:42the biggest change
22:44that allowed us
22:45to register easily.
22:47We don't have to register
22:47at the embassy anymore.
22:48We could do everything online.
22:49So that's very good.
22:51We also had
22:53the...
22:53Before this,
22:54we have to stay
22:55in Malaysia
22:56for 30 days
22:58within five years
22:59in order to vote.
23:00It worked before
23:01because we had the stamps
23:02on our passport
23:02but nowadays
23:03it's all electronic
23:04so it makes it
23:05very difficult.
23:05So that was removed.
23:07They also allowed Singapore,
23:09Southern Kalimantan
23:10and Thailand
23:11to vote for post
23:12which also something new
23:13it's changed
23:14and the fact
23:16that Visma Putra
23:18and SPR
23:19is engaging
23:21with the civil society
23:22organisations
23:23like Global Birthday
23:24in order to listen
23:25to what we say
23:26is already
23:28a step forward.
23:29So in that way
23:30we are moving forward
23:31but
23:34just engaging
23:35is not enough.
23:36There has to be
23:36a willingness
23:37to reform
23:38and I do believe
23:39that we are
23:40in a very good way
23:41we have done so much
23:43and I think
23:43we are in a very good way
23:44the diaspora
23:45is still motivated
23:47of course
23:47there is some
23:48voter apathy
23:48just like the locals
23:52but don't give up on us.
23:54We are there
23:54we are willing
23:55to do our part
23:56and we just want
23:58to call out
23:58for the institutions
23:59to do their part.
24:01The work has to start
24:03today
24:03the work has to start
24:04now
24:05Yesterday already
24:06You should have
24:07started yesterday
24:07but it's never too late
24:09to start right now
24:10and in that sense
24:12then for anyone
24:12who is tuning in
24:14to this discussion today
24:15for any young Malaysians
24:17out there
24:18who may have never
24:19voted from overseas
24:20before
24:20what's the one thing
24:21you wish they understood
24:22about the process
24:23before the next election?
24:25I would call out
24:26to every single person
24:29youth
24:29who are going out
24:31to the country
24:31register for my daftar SPR
24:34because that is
24:35that platform
24:36that you are going
24:37to use
24:37to do everything else
24:39if you are in overseas
24:40and you need to vote
24:41so if you have done that
24:43check out social media
24:44I am not doing promotion
24:45for Global Birthday
24:46but we are on top
24:48of information
24:49when you need to vote
24:50check out the election commission
24:52and as a voter
24:56take responsibility
24:57of your vote
24:58don't let that power
25:00be decided
25:01by someone else
25:02take the information
25:04you need
25:05go out and search
25:06the information
25:06look at Global Birthday
25:07look at Vismaputra
25:09call your embassies
25:10ask them information
25:12because they have
25:13to know too
25:14that people are not aware
25:15so don't give up
25:18your right
25:18just because it's difficult
25:19it's frustrating
25:20don't give it up
25:21because so many people
25:23have been doing this
25:24for years
25:24and they're still doing it
25:26so for your first time
25:27voting
25:27no matter how difficult
25:29is it
25:29there are people
25:30to support you
25:30go out there
25:31and reach out
25:32right
25:33thank you so much
25:34for leaving us
25:35with those words
25:35of wisdom
25:36I've been speaking
25:37to Nimala Devi
25:39Windgator
25:39from Global Birthday
25:41this has been
25:42It's About Youth
25:42with me
25:43Faye Kwan
25:43thank you for watching
25:44and we'll see you
25:45next time
25:50you
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