ISIS: Electronic voting is the future

KUALA LUMPUR: A think tank has asked the government to study ways to implement electronic voting as a way of casting votes in the future.

Rastam Mohd Isa, from the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS), said the government should start looking at implementing the system.

“If India can start implementing e-voting, why can’t we?

“If you look at banking and government agencies, they are into online banking and submission of forms,” the ISIS chairman and chief executive told FMT.

He said the country needs to keep up with technological advancements.

“People say it is not safe to have online voting. But what about banking and government agencies? They know there are risks but they have taken proper steps.

“People can vote leisurely at Starbucks, train stations or other places. But there are risks and these need to be looked into.”

In Malaysia, he said the Election Commission used indelible ink to ensure the security of the electoral process.

Indelible ink is supposed to be a semi-permanent ink applied on the forefinger to prevent electoral fraud such as double voting.

However, during the Sarawak elections last year, Bersih 2.0’s Sarawak monitoring team (Pemantau) claimed there were two incidents where the ink could be washed away by washing.

Such incidents were also reported during the last general election.