At this point, there is still a lot of speculation as to when the next general election (GE) will be held. Many politicians have been giving their two cents on when they think the best date for the election is, but an official date is yet to be announced.
According to this article by the Malay Mail, there are a few possibilities. GE could be called by October before the rainy season in November and December, or even happen after Chinese New Year celebrations next year.
In any case, nothing is set in stone yet, but it’s always good to be prepared.
It comes automatically
If you haven’t heard, the voting age in Malaysia is now 18 years old.
Upon turning 18, your voting information will be made available 16 days after the following month of your birthday. You can check your status online, through the MySPR Semak site, through the mobile app, or by calling the SPR hotline.
Did you know: SPR stands for Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya Malaysia, which is the Election Commission of Malaysia.
On the MySPR Semak portal, fill in your IC and the captcha to check your voting status.
Here, you can find information about your locality, voting location, state legislative assembly (Dewan Undangan Negeri), and parliament.
Since I had manually registered as a voter last year, I asked a supposedly non-registered colleague to check if she was automatically enrolled on the MySPR Semak platform, and the answer was yes.
Making a MySPR account
If you want to change your voting location or electoral division, you will need to make a MySPR account.
You can also check your status by making an account on the MySPR Daftar portal. Here, you’ll register for an account by clicking “Permohonan Akaun Baharu”.
First, you’ll be prompted to put in your name, IC number, birthday, phone number, email, password, and set a security question.
New users will also have to upload a picture of their IC as well as a selfie with the IC. Fill in the captcha, agree with the terms and conditions, and there you’ll have it.
You can update your address if the registered address is different from your current residence on the MySPR portal.
My experience with the portal was pretty instantaneous. After submitting my application, I immediately received two emails—one telling me my application was being processed and one saying it was approved.
In the latter email, I was told to click a link to activate my account. I did as told and entered my IC number and password as prompted. I had to request a TAC as well. With that, my account was activated.
On this platform, you can also access the postal ballot application.
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Thanks to the UNDI 18 initiative and the automatic voter registration system, more Malaysians are able to vote in this general election than before.
Though voting isn’t compulsory, if you’d like to have your voice heard and contribute to the future of Malaysia, we hope this guide will be of some use to you when GE15 rolls around.
Featured Image Credit: Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya Malaysia
