‘Tak Bayar Cukai, Tidak Boleh Undi’

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 2 — Bersih has slammed as unconstitutional the Election Commission’s (EC) suggestion to bar overseas Malaysians who do not pay taxes from voting, pointing out that many Malaysians here too are not taxpayers.

The electoral reform group noted that those who earn less than RM2,500 a month and many retirees are exempt from paying income tax, and asked if these groups will also be barred from voting in parliamentary and state elections.

EC chairman Tan Sri Aziz Yusof said on Monday that the EC will propose to the parliamentary select committee on electoral reform that overseas Malaysians who do not pay taxes be rendered ineligible as voters.

But only about one million Malaysians out of a total population of 28 million currently pay income tax, according to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Idris Jala.

Bersih today also pointed out that Aziz did not understand income tax laws, noting that the Income Tax Act 1967 states that income derived from sources outside Malaysia and received in Malaysia are exempt from income tax.

“Through the double taxation agreement, the citizen would only pay the taxes in the country where they gain their income,” the group noted in a statement today.

The EC’s proposal was also unconstitutional as it ignores every citizen’s right to vote, even as absent voters, and amounted to an attempt to disenfranchise qualified Malaysians, Bersih also stressed.

It said the EC has only taken on “2½ demands” of the group’s original eight demands, and questioned the commission’s lack of will to implement the recommendations for free and fair elections.

“As the constitutional institution that is supposed to manage electoral processes and uphold the rights of voters, the EC appears to be unwilling to fulfil its constitutional duties. Bersih 2.0 reminds the EC that it is not answerable to any political master but to all citizens of Malaysia.

“If the EC intends to gain the confidence of the people of Malaysia, it must stop hoodwinking the citizens and immediately start taking steps to bring about substantive reform to the electoral system to ensure free and fair elections in Malaysia,” it said.

—Malaysian Insider

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Dari Malaysiakini

BERSIH bidas cadangan ‘tak bayar cukai, tak boleh undi’

Cadangan menghalang rakyat Malaysia yang bekerja di luar negara dan tidak membayar cukai daripada mengundi adalah tidak mengikut perlembagaan, kata kumpulan pendesak reformasi pilihan raya, BERSIH 2.0.

Dalam satu kenyataan media, jawatankuasa pemandu BERSIH 2.0 berkata cadangan SPR itu tidak mengambil kira peruntukan dalam perlembagaan persekutuan yang menyatakan dengan jelas bahawa setiap warganegara mempunyai hak untuk mengundi dalam mana-mana pilihan raya.

“Ramai rakyat yang menetap di dalam negara juga tidak membayar cukai juga … Pesara juga ramai yang tidak membayar cukai pendapatan dan mereka yang berpendapatan kurang daripada RM2,500 juga tidak perlu membayar apa-apa cukai pendapatan.

“Adakah kita akan mengecualikan semua mereka sebagai pengundi juga?” petik kenyataan itu.

Menurut jawatankuasa pemandu itu Akta Cukai Pendapatan 1967 menetapkan bahawa pendapatan yang diperolehi daripada sumber-sumber di luar Malaysia adalah dikecualikan daripada cukai.

Justeru, BERSIH 2.0 berpendapat tindakan SPR yang tidak berperlembagaan adalah cubaan melucutkan hak mereka yang layak untuk mengundi.

Isnin lalu, pengerusi SPR Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof berkata Amerika Syarikat mempunyai sistem yang sama yang hanya membenarkan warganya yang bekerja di luar negara dan membayar cukai untuk mengundi.

Katanya, hak mengundi hanya perlu diberikan kepada rakyat Malaysia yang menyumbang kepada negara dan pulang ke negara dari semasa ke semasa.