BANGI, Thurs : The goverment will incorporate a proposal in the
election Offences Act making it compulsory for future candidates
to undertake by oath that they will not delve in matters relating
to seditious, religious disruption or hatred in the forthcoming
general elections.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Dr Rais Yatim
said there is nothing new to this as it is pursuant to the Lloyd's
of Britain undertaking where by the candidates in Britian have to
abide by similar guidelines in its recent general election.
"We believe there
is much good in this so that future elections in Malaysia can be
held peacefully and with decorum.
"Hopefully,the
proposed laws can be presented to the cabinet next month but the
final draft is expected to be ready by of the year,"he told
reporters after officiating the Pok Rafeah Chair third public lecture
entitled Globalisation and National Identity at Universiti Kebangsaan
Malaysia today.
Rais also said the
goverment is not prepared to accept in total the Election Commision's
(EC) proposal to put all those who reach the age of 21 into the
electoral roll automatically.
He said the goverment
needs more time to study the implications of the move in other areas.
Commision chairman
Datuk Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman yesterday said Malaysians who reach
21 years of age will automatically be registered as voters soon.
He said the goverment
had in principle agreed to the proposal made by the commision.
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