BEIJING, Nov 18 — Thinking smart about how to aid Malaysian students in Beijing get their postal ballots back to the Election Commission of Malaysia (SPR) before the 15th General Election (GE15) 5pm deadline on November 19, Chua Guat Hong, 29, rallied her friends to help.
The Malaysian, who works in a private company and has lived in the Chinese capital for 11 years, said the ballots were only received via a delivery company at about 5pm on Wednesday (November 16).
Taking matters into her own hands, she and her six friends organised an Amazing Race-like operation to ensure that they and some 100 students from Beijing Normal University, Peking University, Tsinghua University and Beihang University didn’t miss the chance to determine the future of Malaysia.
It was not easy because there are tight Covid-19 restrictions and the students were not allowed to leave their campus, while security guards also denied Chua and her friends’ entry.
“Believe it or not, all the postal ballots were tested for the Covid-19 virus. It is the procedure for all overseas mail.
“The students were overjoyed to see me and thanked me for helping them fulfil their responsibility to vote,” said Chua from Batu Pahat, Johor who is a first-time voter.
She said that a WeChat group called ‘GE15Beijing’ was created to aid communication and distribution, and that the marked ballots have been sent to Malaysia via courier.
Although exhausted having worked till midnight to get the job done, Chua is happy that she was able to help the students.
— Bernama
