PETALING JAYA: Allow all political parties contesting in the upcoming Sarawak election equal broadcast time on state-owned television, several Sarawakian civil society groups demand.

       These were among a few requests made by 17 civil society organisations, including Bersih Sarawak, which were included in a memorandum given to the Election Commission (EC).

       “The almost total ban on physical campaigning as imposed in the Melaka election save for letter-box leafleting and roving loudspeakers is unacceptable.

       “Such constraints, in view of Covid-19 safety concerns, must be accompanied by alternative forms of free broadcast time for party political broadcasts via state-owned TV and radio.

       “These measures must allow political parties to communicate and transmit their manifestos, introduce their candidates and their policy arguments to the voters from Nomination Day onwards,” said the group in the memorandum.

       The group handed over the memorandum to Sarawak EC director Jasni Jubli in Kuching after the commission’s special meeting on the state election on Wednesday (Nov 24).

       The EC has set Dec 6 as nomination day for the Sarawak election, with Dec 18 fixed as polling day.

       The group proposed that government TV and radio stations allocate airtime of five to 15 minutes to all contestants in the election, and also called for debates between potential chief minister candidates to be organised and aired live.

       With Sarawak’s geographical landscape providing a challenge for parties to campaign, the group has called for political gatherings or ceramah to be allowed.

       It said, however, that these gatherings must be under strict Covid-19 SOPs.

       “Innovative protocols are necessary in Sarawak due to the difficulties and peculiarities of our constituencies - many of which are geographically large and have sporadic and inconsistent telecommunication facilities and non-existent internet coverage,” the group said.

       Another demand by the group is for the EC to allow postal voting for Sarawakian voters who live in Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah.

       “If voters who live and work in Singapore and Brunei are now allowed by the EC to vote via postal voting as per the Melaka and forthcoming Sarawak elections, then voters residing in the Peninsular and Sabah should be accorded the same access by expanding the existing absentee voting methods to them,” the group said.

       The group also demanded that the application period for postal voting in the Sarawak election, which ends on Wednesday, be extended to three days before nomination day.

       “As this is an online application process, it should not be difficult for the EC to work towards this extension so as to enfranchise all eligible Sarawakian voters,” said the group.