The Malaysian government has denied permission for the
Indonesian government to set up additional polling booths in Malaysia for the
coming general elections, despite the large Indonesian population there.
This means Indonesia
would only be allowed set up polling booths within the Indonesian embassy
compound, Indonesian Ambassador to Malaysia Da'i Bachtiar said on Thursday.
"An official statement was issued by the Malaysian government asking [the
embassy] not to set up polling booths outside the embassy compound," Bachtiar
said, as quoted by Antara state newswire, at an inauguration ceremony for overseas
election committee members in Kuala
Lumpur.
Previously, the General Elections Commission had planned to post four polling
stations in Malaysia, all in
Kuala Lumpur.
There are currently around 900,000 eligible Indonesian voters
in Malaysia,
with about half of these living in the capital. (dre)
