The EC chief acknowledged his organisation's failure in raising public awareness on the importance of voting despite numerous campaigns.[1] Rather than blaming the people, he should act to redress the matter.
He must also be truthful to himself and the Malaysian people, and not be selective on the reason behind those failures. One of the key contributory factors for the people's reluctance to register as voters, is their lack of confidence towards the EC. It cannot be denied that the EC has both the ruling regime and itself to blame on this.
The EC does not need to make voter registration compulsory, but to automatically admit all qualified citizens into the electoral roll. This can happen well within constitutionality by implementing an automatic application, approval and admission into the electoral roll for qualified citizens. It is purely a matter of technocratic and political will by the EC and the ruling regime. The oft quoted constitutional issue does not arise.