Introduction - About This Blog

Strictly speaking, this is not a Web log or diary. Rather, this blog format will just make it easier for me to post a series of analysis of voter data sourced from the SPR (Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya, or EC, Election Commission, http://www.spr.gov.my/) of Malaysia.

The purpose is to point out any data errors, anomalies, inconsistent formats, that will help SPR improve its database.

Some of the errors will show that SPR is not perfect, and there is space for operational improvement. Some of the oddities and inconsistencies will point to either negligence at SPR or the National Registration of IC Department. Further, some irrational data structure (such as army and police having their own IC series) shows that the election laws and the SPR themselves need to be substantially reformed and made independent of the current government.

I will focus on two types of data:

1. Gazetted voters list of 2008 Feb 5,

2. Quarterly supplementary changes in voters list (Senarai Tambahan), that are published about 15-30 days after the end of the quarter here: http://www.spr.gov.my/index/pamer_rang.htm

The second set of data is obtained in PDF format, and converted to text, and then to database format. There may be minor errors in the conversion. Please inform me if you catch any errors.