In just a few weeks, the 15th General Election will be held with 21.1 million Malaysians eligible to vote. This is an increase from the 12,299,514 eligible voters in GE-14. The issue of GE-15 like GE-14 is the cost of returning to the polling station. A few minutes after the voting date was announced by the EC, the price of plane tickets to several destinations soared by 100% forcing MAVCOM to issue a statement that they will monitor it to ensure that the airline company does not infringe on user rights.
This is still despite the fact that the GE this time takes place on Saturday and not Wednesday like the previous GE. In a world where everything can be done online, especially using smartphone applications, more and more voices are asking why Malaysians can't vote the same way?
Good – Why Do We Need to Vote Online?
Because as we have mentioned above we are used to doing everything online at least a decade ago. Paying utility bills, renewing vehicle insurance, paying summons, shopping, doing banking and paying zakat fitrah are all at your fingertips.
Tun Dr.'s dream Mahathir to make Malaysia a paperless developed country after launching the Multimedia Corridor in 1996 finally became a reality. Doing everything online has become commonplace in Malaysia with only 6% of residents saying they have never done an online transaction in a recent study by GlobalData.
So to expect the casting process to also be done online is not an unreasonable or extreme request. If we believe in the safety of online transactions involving thousands of ringgit, why can't we have a secure system to send one vote from one citizen during elections.
In addition to mature technology that can be used, online voting will make it easier for voters. There is no more issue of having to leave the house to cast a vote. Even if there is a flood, the vote can still be done. The cost barrier of returning to the village to vote will also no longer be the case as well as the issue of plane tickets rising like a sprout.
Not Good – Why Don't We Need to Vote Online?
Although more and more people want to vote online, there are still some issues with the security of the system. The most important issue is the security of personal data. Can the EC and the Malaysian government ensure the security of the data of 21.1 million voters?
Hacker Hacker
Malaysia does not have a good reputation in ensuring the security of personal data. Last July 22.5 million data from Malaysian identity cards were sold on the dark web arena at a value of $10 thousand in Bitcoin. The National Registration Department's and the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs' security prudence is believed to be the reason why this important data was successfully stolen. Other serious data leakage cases that occurred this year were from Kiplepay, Malindoair, Carousell, and iPay88. So it is not surprising when Malaysia "successfully" is listed as the 11th country with the highest number of data leakage cases in the world in Q2 2022.
In all of these reported cases, no one has been brought to justice for negligence that caused a very serious data leak. As if no one cares including ourselves who make noise for a few days before returning to the topic of swearing at artists, TikTokfemes, Instafemes, Tweetfemes and politicians.
We live in a cyber age where hackers not only want to steal personal data but also influence election results. This is already happening in the USA and the UK with fake news campaigns being used by Russia to ensure the best candidates for them to be appointed. With online voting systems that are not completely secure, election results can be changed directly at the system level with votes intercepted without being noticed.
A case of failure of the electronic voting system can be seen during the People's Justice Party Election in 2018. Weaknesses in the system and electronic voting machines caused the voting process to be affected so that some felt there was an element of sabotage so members asked for the paper voting system to be reinstated.
As long as the security of millions of personal data and votes cannot be ensured 100% it is difficult to support the online voting system at this time in Malaysia.
Looking To Estonia
In order to vote online we need to do a Policy View to Estonia. Estonia was the first country in the world to allow online voting for local elections in 2005. Two years after the successful pilot program, Estonia again became the first country to allow online voting during the general election.
In the Estonian general election held in 2019, 247,232 votes were cast online which is equivalent to 43.8% of the total votes cast by Estonian citizens. This is a sharp increase from the 176,491 (30.5%) votes cast online during the 2015 GE.
Voting is done through the website with identity verification using the national digital identity system given to all citizens. Citizens can then confirm their vote was received using a smartphone application with encrypted data. The interesting thing about Estonia's online voting system is that citizens can change their vote as much as possible with only the last vote being counted after the voting period ends.
Another thing that is interesting is that Estonia also uses an identity card system for all citizens similar to MyKad in Malaysia. The difference is that the Estonian MyKad, which is called ID-kaart, can also be used to make online payments. It can be said that ID-kaart is MyKad that is used optimally and comprehensively, not in Malaysia that simply leaves the shell on the stairs.
Malaysia is actually on the right track
Actually we are ready because according to the latest data from the Department of Statistics Malaysia, the level of internet usage in our country is 96.8% and the level of mobile phone usage is 98.7%.
The government has also announced that it will introduce a National Digital Identity (IDN) in early 2024. It will be legally used for identity verification, and become a digital signature. Android and iOS are ready to support digital ID cards with high security systems. Malaysia is actually on the right track to support the online voting system, all that needs to be done is to convince the public that it is a reliable and safe system to use.
Ready or not, we are confident that the online voting process using websites and smartphone applications will become a reality in just one generation. We are sure that many of our readers cannot return to the world of cash only, physical shopping and watching scheduled TV.
We are now a generation where everything needs to be simplified. Without financial barriers and physically going to the polls, the percentage of people who cast ballots may also increase. The question now is WHEN it can be done not IF it is done.