THE Election Commission (EC) should have a back-up plan to avoid voters being denied their right to cast their ballots following a MySejahtera glitch that had put random people under home surveillance for Covid-19.
Alice Lau (PH-Lanang) voiced her concern of such a mistake happening again during the Melaka and Sarawak state polls.
“I am very worried that the same will happen on balloting day for the state polls in Melaka and Sarawak.
“If it does, it will give rise to unfairness in the balloting process as voters who are affected would not be able to leave their homes or enter balloting centres to cast their votes.
“The EC should have alternative plans to overcome the problem should it happen again on balloting day,” Lau said when debating Budget 2022 in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
On Sunday, the MySejahtera team apologised for the bug that had caused some people to be put under the Covid-19 Home Surveillance Order (HSO) or Person Under Surveillance (PUS) status on the app.
Lau also asked who would be responsible for the mistake that had resulted in losses for those affected.
She said that mistake would have resulted in some being denied entry into hotels during holidays or boarding flights to further their studies.
Voters in Melaka will be casting their ballots on Nov 20 while the Sarawak state polls is expected to be called soon.
Lau proposed the Health Ministry set up a 24-hour hotline to immediately resolve problems faced by those who had been erroneously placed under HSO and PUS.
“Although MySejahtera has rectified the problem and retracted the HOS and PUS notices, those affected complained their Covid-19 digital certification is now missing,” she said.
She noted although there was a helpdesk section under the MySejahtera app, there were long delays in getting a response.
“There are those who completed their vaccination doses but did not get their digital certification despite raising the matter with the helpdesk section several times.”