Your Name Could Go ‘Missing’ From The SPR Database Even If You’ve Registered. Here’s Why

According to these Malaysians, they've never registered previously but when they checked for their details on the Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya (SPR) site, they claimed that their details are in the system.

Meanwhile, another Malaysian who has previously registered and even voted in the past elections found that his details were missing from the SPR system. He discovered this when he attempted to change his address to his current one.

When he went to SPR, he found out that his name wasn't in the electoral roll. He was asked to register again.

"We’re seen as voters online, but in actual fact we’re not, then that's pretty scary right. Imagine if people out there check and are relieved that they’re registered but when it comes to the actual day they're not, like in my husband's case. If we didn't have to change our address we would have never known," said his wife, when speaking to SAYS.

Social news site, Cilisos' writer Johannan Sim, recounted how his details were not in the electoral roll despite having registered as a voter a year ago.

In an article titled, You Won't Believe How Many Malaysians Are Queueing Up To Register As Voters For GE14 on Cilisos dated 30 September, Johannan explained that he decided to check his status as a voter following all the hype surrounding it about a week ago.

"I also had the option of going to the SPR office (nearest was in Shah Alam) with a copy of my last registration but I believed I lost it, and the post office was nearer anyway," read the article.

Due to overcrowded post offices, Johannan managed to register as a voter after a few attempts. He ended up registering twice just to ensure that his details would be recorded in system.

a) Bantahan

The SPR representative that spoke to SAYS said that the most common reason for this is caused by bantahan (objection). Bantahan is a process that allows a registered voter to challenge another individual's entry into the electoral roll. The bantahan can be made using the Borang C and a payment of RM10 for each voter's registration you challenge. A person is only allowed to make 10 bantahan.

If someone files a bantahan against your registration, you will receive a formal letter from SPR that asks you to attend a public inquiry according to the date and time specified. The letter will also include 'Borang D' that will state the reason behind the bantahan.

The SPR representative said that most often, the reason provided for the bantahan are alleged discrepancies in personal details such as name, IC number and/or a person's address.

She also mentioned that if a person were to ignore the letter upon registering and not show up for the public inquiry and follow through, their names will not be included in the record. There is also a chance of the letter not reaching the intended person due to multiple reasons including human errors (lost in the mail, etc.)

b) Human error

Not putting aside the fact that the registration process is still done manually, the SPR representative said that she wouldn't exclude human error as one of the possible reason on why some people may find their information missing from the electoral roll.

"You may have registered, there might have been some issues in between and that could have led to this problem. While we are always doing our best to avoid this problem, there are times when this can happen. Human error is a very real thing and we are working on ensuring that it doesn't happen," she explained.

Explaining that there a number of possibilities on why this could happen, the SPR representative said that one of the possible reason could be because of the "middle person" who handles voters registration.

You can actually register at certain political party offices that are assigned by the SPR to register voters. According to the representative that we spoke to, there were instances when parents gave away copies of their children's IC without informing their children, in hopes that it could be used to register their children as voters.

While she didn't go into the specifics due to the sensitivity of the issue, she said that it may be a possible reason on why some people find in their names in the system.

Stressing that she's not pointing fingers at anyone in particular, she said that this situation has happened in the past.

Speaking to SAYS, the SPR representative said that they best way to deal with any issue that you face during the registration or when registering as a voter is by quickly clarifying with the SPR office.

"Always check for your details online and ensure that your name is in the system. Keep a copy of the registration form and bring it over should you face any problem in the future," she added.

She ensured that SPR is always ready to help to ease the process and solve any problem that may occur along the line.