Singaporeans, please do your Malaysian neighbours up north a kind favour: Refrain from unnecessary travel to Johor Bahru on May 8 and 9, 2018.

Doing Malaysians a favour

A straightforward plea has been posted on Facebook on April 22, urging Singaporeans to reconsider travelling to JB on a Tuesday and Wednesday, so as to free up traffic.

This is to allow Malaysians easier access back home for the chance to vote in the upcoming Malaysian election held on a weekday:

Significance of election

Malaysia will hold its 14th general election on May 9, a Wednesday. This marks the first time Malaysia is holding its polls on a weekday in almost 20 years -- the last time in 1999.

The weekday polling date has been called out by the opposition as “another attempt by (Prime Minister) Najib Razak and Umno to steal the election”.

Fears of low voter turnout

This is so as a low turnout will favour the ruling Barsian Nasional to win, as voting in Malaysia is not compulsory and the opposition is adamant the public tide is turning against the ruling government.

There is also a widely held belief that overseas voters are generally opposition supporters.

It has been estimated that a low voter turnout will likely benefit BN. If the turnout is less than 65 percent of the electorate, it’ll most likely be a landslide win for BN.

Many Malaysians in Singapore

There are currently about 400,000 Malaysians working in Singapore. Some reside here while many commute daily from Johor.

Malaysians living in neighbouring areas like Singapore, South Thailand, Brunei and Kalimantan, Indonesia are not eligible to vote by post and must return to Malaysia to cast their ballot.

A mid-week election is also likely to affect turnout in the country’s less-developed states like Kelantan, Sabah and Sarawak.

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Hotly-contested

The electoral roll updated to the fourth quarter of 2017 indicates there are 14.9 million registered voters in Malaysia.

In the last election in 2013, Malaysia had 13.3 million registered voters, and an 85 percent turnout at the polls.

The weekday election will probably see widespread scrutiny of voter turnout numbers after the polls.

And this time, it is expected to be a closely fought election.

It will see the ruling coalition BN pitted against Pakatan Harapan and Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) in multiple three-cornered fights nationwide.

The polls will see former prime minister turned opposition leader Mahathir Mohamad, 92, coming out of retirement to challenge his former protege Datuk Seri Najib, 64.

Giving Malaysians the chance to vote is good: